Of Billions and Crumbs

Shoemart is one of the Philippines’ top corporations and its owners continue to reap billions of earnings and building new malls, the latest of which is reputed to be Asia’s biggest. Its employees, however, tell a different story – of hardship and poor pay despite several years of service.

BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat.com

The sitcom John en Marsha ran on television for more than two decades. It is now just a memory, but a memory that is still very fresh.

Among the most memorable things about John en Marsha is the fact that each of its episodes ended with the male lead character John being nagged by his mother-in-law, "Magsumikap ka!" The apparent intention is to reproach him for the hardships his family experiences, what with he being unemployed.

The obvious implication is that with hard work, there are no limits to how high one may go in the world. That is what big businessmen try to say to the world when they tell stories of how, by dint of hard work, they rose from the rubble to reach the stars.

Henry Sy, Sr., owner of Shoemart, Inc., the holding company of the SM Group of Companies, is one such big businessman. He has always made it a point to tell of how he rose from being a simple seller of sandals and shoes to attain the wealth he now enjoys by sheer hard work.

His oldest employees, however, tell another story.

Loyal employees

They have given most of their lives to the department store chain. They saw it soar from scratch. Yet they remain as poor as when they started.

Manang Rosita, 60, was born to an extremely poor family and was unable to finish even high school.

She started working for SM in 1976 and has not missed a single day at work since then. Her record of punctuality would have been as perfect had she not been once caught in heavy traffic and had she not punched her card wrongly another time.

To this day she earns a pittance of P363.70 daily, which amounts to P2,000 every payday after all deductions have been made. She never married, but is nevertheless a breadwinner as she finances the studies of her nephews and nieces. She got the appliances in their house through SM incentives. Whenever she badly needs money, she loans from the union cooperative or the Social Security System (SSS), or borrows from her co-workers.

Rodolfo "Tatang" Lagota, 53, finished high school in Pangasinan and wanted to be an agriculturist, but his parents were too poor to send him to college.

He has been working for SM for more than 20 years. All these years, all he has been able to afford himself and his family is a half-built concrete house in their province. One of his sons wanted to take computer engineering, but his wages could pay for only a two-year vocational course. He got their other appliances only through the SM incentive program: a mini component system for 15 years of service and a washing machine for 20 years of service. For entertainment they turn to an old black-and-white television set, unable to afford a colored one. Just surviving through each day would have been a lot of difficulty for them if his wife did not have a small sari-sari store and was not raising two pigs, courtesy of a relative working abroad.

Unable to rent a room for himself in the city, he lives in the union office together with his other co-workers whose families are in the provinces.

He is always stripped for cash and often has to loan from the SSS, the Pag-ibig Fund, and the cooperative.

Rich man, rich man

Henry Sy, Sr. is a stark contrast to his loyal workers. He earns billions while his workers have to make do with bits. Together with George Ty, Lucio Tan, and the Ayala family, he is ranked in Forbes Global's World Billionaires 2002 Asian Listing, with a net worth estimated at $1.5 billion, or more than P75 billion.

His SM Group of Companies includes, or has investments in, such large companies as Shoemart, Inc., Supervalue Supermarket, SLJ Stores Corp., Star Appliance Center, H & B, Inc., Hardware Workshop, Inc., Surplus Marketing Corp., Leading Apothecary, Inc., Luzuriaga and Associates, Inc., Cafe Elysee, Inc., SM Auto Service and Car Accessories, Inc., Banco de Oro, SM Investments Corp., SM Fund, Inc., SM Insurance, Brokers & Services, Inc., China Bank Corp., Far East Bank and Trust Co., Philippine National Bank, Keppel Philippine Holdings, Inc., Ayala Corp., SM Prime Holdings, Inc., First Asia Development, Shopping Center Management Corp., Leisure Center, Inc., West AVenue Theater Corp., SM Keppel-Straits Land, Inc., Tagaytay Resort Development Corp., Multi Realty Development Corp., Intercontinental Development Corp., and Bellevue Properties, Inc.

His Shoemart, Inc. alone has earned a net income of P1.975 billion for the present, still unfinished year. Its revenues for this year amount to P9.5 billion. Of these, P6.6 billion comes from net sales; P1.8 billion is made up of equity in net earnings of investees; P443 million from rent; P61.8 million from dividends; P46 million gains on sale of investments in shares of stock; P43 million from interest; and P57 million other earnings.

According to Jose Sio, SM Prime Senior Vice President for Finance and concurrent Executive Vice President-Chief Financial Officer of SM Investments Corp., SM Prime will be spending P22 billion until 2005 for mall development.Sy is currently looking forward to the completion of the 500,000-square meter Mall of Asia on reclaimed Manila Bay land along Roxas Boulevard.Workers' woes

SM workers, who number over 20,000, earn an average of P360 daily. This is far from the P532 which, according to Sammy Malunes of the Kilusang Mayo Uno, a family of six now needs to meet its daily needs.

Their wages have increased by a measly P81 from 1990 to 2001--and they have acquired these wage increases not through any form of benevolence on the part of Sy, but through militant union action.The Sandigan ng Manggagawa sa Shoemart (SMS) also decries having to put up with contractualization. SMS leaders say company employees are divided into regular and contractual workers though they do the same work. Contractual employees are prohibited from joining or supporting strikes even though the Labor Code provides that contractual employees have the right to self-organization, collective bargaining and peaceful concerted action. They are also given minimal and, in some cases, no benefits -- though the Labor Code also provides for social security and welfare benefits for contractual employees.

Aside from these, SM workers also have to follow harsh rules and regulations. There have been cases where employees suspected of stealing store items were turned over to the police and charged with theft without due process with the union -- in violation of their collective bargaining agreement (CBA).

Up in arms

No wonder SM workers are up in arms as they negotiate for their next CBA. They are calling for a wage increase, additional benefits, regularization of contractual workers, and the implementation of the grievance procedure.The experience of the SM workers shows that hard work is often not enough to attain a decent life -- there is also a need to continuously fight for this rights. Bulatlat.com

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