Labor groups Partido Manggagawa (PM) and Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa (SENTRO) expressed their concern at the retrenchment of some 4,000 workers across five factories of the Sports City group of companies.
“This is alarming for workers in Cebu and elsewhere. For
the biggest MEPZ employer to retrench 1/4 of of its workers may be a portent of
worse things to come. What is the response of the government? Don't tell us
‘unity’,” exclaimed Dennis Derige, PM-Cebu spokesperson.
Workers of garment
firms Mactan Apparels, Inc.; Metro Wear, Inc.; Globalwear Manufacturing, Inc.;
Feeder Apparel Corporation; and Vertex One Apparel Phils. Inc.—all owned by
Sports City—were affected in the largest termination yet this year. Sports City
is the biggest employer in the Mactan Economic Zone and supplies to global
garment brands.
Both PM and SENTRO
said that they will further investigate the claims of Sports City about the
“sudden dropping and reduction of orders from our clients.” “We cannot take
these claims at face value. In fact, factories traditionally increase their
production in the ber months to meet the huge spike in demand during the
holiday season. We will seek help from our allies abroad to check the veracity
of these claims of diminished orders,” Derige insisted.
Sports City supplies apparel to global brands Adidas, Under Armour, Saucony, New Balance and Lululemon.
He said that workers
were caught off guard by the mass layoff. He explained that “There was no
social dialogue between the employer and the employees. A better option is that
negotiations transpire between employer and employee representatives so that
workers have voice and participation in the basis and terms of the
termination.”
Last year, unions were
formed at Mactan Apparel, Metro Wear and Globalwear but were defeated in the
certification election. PM had slammed the companies for delaying the elections
for almost half a year even as an anti-union campaign was conducted using
social media.
In the face of the
mass layoff at the MEPZ and other companies, PM and SENTRO also called on the
government to heed the demand for employment guarantees. The proposal of the
labor coalition Nagkaisa calls for public employment, preferably in climate
jobs, for unemployed workers over a period of 100 days to nine months at
minimum wages or P10,000, whichever is higher. In response to this demand, the
Department of Labor and Employment undertook a study of a social protection
floor which has remained unimplemented.
“It is high time that the employment guarantee and other social protection mechanisms are enacted,” Derige ended
September 30, 2022
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