Bulatlat - The Philippines's alternative weekly newsmagazine

This story was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. IV, No. 46, December 19-25, 2004

LABOR WATCH
Workers Slam Aboitiz Firm

BY TYRONE VELEZ
Bulatlat

DAVAO CITY - Workers from a manufacturing firm owned by the Aboitiz Group of Companies have decried the company for its alleged underhanded move to get rid of its workers.

The workers of A-1 Concrete Poles, located at the industrial zone of Davao City in Bunawan District, recently lost their jobs after the company declared that it had been sold. The company, which had 146 employees, provides electrical posts to the city.

The workers’ union recently joined a march-rally commemorating the birth of Andres Bonifacio to air their demand for reinstatement. Their case exemplified the state of workers in Southern Mindanao where capitalists stifle labor rights through contractualization, “labor flexilibization” and union busting.

None of the workers thought the company would close down on Oct. 30, not after concluding their Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) negotiation with the management three months earlier last July, said Jonar Lantaca, vice president of the Namaa-A-1, or Nagkahiusang Mamumuo sa A-1 (United Workers of A-1 Concrete Poles).

“The management just declared that they sold the company but we were not given the notice of closure, as mandated by law," Lantaca said.

Labor rules stipulate that companies must present a notice of closure to the union 30 days prior to such action. This is in order to make the workers prepare for their termination and to accept their separation pay.

The management of A-1 claimed the company was sold to their competitor, Teshin Company, which is owned by a group of Taiwanese.

However, the union believed this was not a case of closure. “In their termination report to the Department of Labor and Employment, the company stipulated that what happened to the company was a ‘change management/merger’. There was no statement or a deed of sale of the company. Further, we found out that in a merger, the rank-and-file workers are not supposed to be affected,” Lantaca said.

The 106-strong union has now filed three cases before DOLE against the management of A-1. The cases are illegal lockout, union busting, and illegal dismissal. Named as respondents are A-1’s chief operating officer Cesar Mosar and chief executive officer Jaime Jose Aboitiz.

Lantaca said this move by management was an assault to their right to union. "Their move is meant to dismantle the union. They have seen that our union had demanded rightfully for our benefits in the past five years," he said.

The Kilusang Mayo Uno (May First Movement) in Southern Mindanao, one of the support groups of Nama-A-1, deplored the move against the workers. “The truth is, the Aboitiz Group of Companies is trying to pave the way for contractualization,” said Omar Bantayan, KMU-Southern Mindanao secretary general.

Aside from filing their case to DOLE, the workers have staged a picket near the company to demand for their reinstatement and recognition of the union. Of the 146 workers, 126 have refused to receive their separation pay. Around 86 workers have been joining the picket.

Lantaca deplored the fact that even the DOLE is taking part in the scheme against them by dangling payments for the workers. "DOLE brazenly offered payment to the workers when in fact they have knowledge that a case had already been filed against the management of the company," Lantaca said.

He said some of the workers agreed to work again in the company as casuals, without the job security and benefits they used to have as regular workers.

"This is a bitter truth for us to swallow," Lantaca lamented. "Most of us have worked here since the company started 10 years ago. And to think we receive about 7,000 pesos a month. And you look at our plight! Some of us don’t even have homes!” he said.

The plight of A-1 workers indicates the threat to job security that workers are faced with in this region.

Bantayan of KMU noted that other unions have experienced the same fate. One of the worst happened in Cosmos Bottling in Bago Aplaya last September, where Bantayan said the workers were literally "driven like cattles" at gun point out of the factory. The workers were informed there and then that the company had shut down.

Romualdo Basilio, KMU-Southern Mindanao chairman, said the struggle of workers is now made more difficult by companies who resort to “legal” tactics to dismantle unions, such as declaring bankruptcy, changing management and the like.

He cited the case of workers in Lichang Company, a veneering firm in Montevista, Compostela Valley province, where workers went through so much struggle to receive their rightful pay.

After the workers won their case and awarded P6 million in back wages, the company retrenched the workers and declared a change into a cooperative venture. The workers have yet to receive the amount due them. They have also filed another case against the owners of Lichang that is still being litigated.

Another method is the establishment of union-management, or unions created by management, as a means to discourage the initiatives of workers to form their own union. A case in point is Stanfilco, a banana plantation company in Compostela Valley. The management organized four of the five unions in the company. But these union-managements disintegrated when Stanfilco changed its management. At present, only one union remains, the one organized by the plantation workers themselves.

Bantayan said an average of 200 workers lose their jobs nationwide everyday, bringing the unemployment figures to five million. With a report from Cheryll Fiel/ Bulatlat

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