LABOR WATCH

Southern Tagalog Workers Score DoLE Decisions on Labor Cases

"Promote gainful employment opportunities, develop human resources, protect workers and promote their welfare and maintain industrial peace.” Thus says the mandate of the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) posted in its official website. But judging from their experience, however, some labor unions in Southern Tagalog question the DoLE’s sincerity in upholding and protecting their interests.

BY DENNIS ESPADA
Bulatlat

"Promote gainful employment opportunities, develop human resources, protect workers and promote their welfare and maintain industrial peace.”

Thus says the mandate of the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) posted in its official website. But judging from their experience, however, some labor unions in Southern Tagalog question the DoLE’s sincerity in upholding and protecting their interests.

Arbitrary acts

Workers of two Korean-owned garment factories staged their second protest rally in six months on March 26 within the 276-hectare Cavite Export Processing Zone (CEPZ) in Rosario, Cavite (25 kms. south of Manila). They have been calling on the implementation of their first collective bargaining agreement (CBA) for over six months now. Their first protest rally was staged Sept. 25 last year.

The Kaisahan ng mga Manggagawa sa Phils. Jeon (KMPJ or Unity of Workers in Phils. Jeon) and Nagkakaisang Manggagawa sa Chong Won (NMCW or United Workers in Chong Won) condemned the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) as well as the DoLE not only for the latter’s “inaction and tolerance” on “atrocities and gross violation of labor rights committed against them” but also for canceling the unions’ registration.

Lately, they filed separate petitions before the Bureau of Labor Relations (BLR) to review the decision of DoLE-Region IV director Ricardo Martinez Sr. who granted petitions to cancel the registration last Feb. 5 and 6. The labor department reportedly claimed the protesters no longer represent the majority of the unions since their respective managements terminated them from work.

The Workers’ Assistance Center Inc. (WAC), a non-government institution engaged in organizing workers within the CEPZ and other export processing zones in Luzon, disputed DoLE’s decision.

“This was grossly questionable because the workers on strike should have not been terminated in the first place when the strike is on,” WAC said in a statement. “It is illegal under labor laws.”

KMPJ and NMCW said that they suffered a wave of food blockades and harassments, along with “brutal” dispersals of picket lines in September 2006 and January this year. The striking workers said that their “attackers” – the PEZA police and Jantro security guards – have likewise charged them with libel and other “criminal offenses” for defending their rights. They fear the DoLE’s resolution would result in more violence against them.

“The union leaders and workers on strike have argued that those who filed petitions to cancel their registrations are either non-union members, occupying supervisory positions, and are strongly believed to be used by the management in an effort to bust the legitimate unions, and to discourage and legally persecute them from lawfully asserting their labor rights,” WAC said.

Various websites and blogs publicized the labor dispute and they helped fuel a global campaign to pressure internationally-known clothing brands not to tolerate unfair labor practices. A 49-page report by the Workers’ Rights Consortium (WRC) revealed the situation in Chong Won Fashion, Inc., which led universities in the U.S. to stop ordering clothes from it.

In sync with big business

In Sta. Rosa City, Laguna (38 kms. south of Manila), over a hundred rank-and-file employees of Nissan Motor Philippines Inc. (NMPI) are persistently gathering at the factory gates in Sitio Aratan, Barangay Pulong, Santa Cruz, wearing their uniforms and hoping to get back to work.

They have been doing this in compliance with the Supreme Court (SC) decision on June 21, 2006 ordering the reinstatement of 144 dismissed workers and payment of their back wages. The SC affirmed similar decisions by DoLE and the Court of Appeals (CA) on December 5, 2001 and February 2, 2003, respectively.

But despite the SC decree’s being “self-executory” in favor of the workers, no less than the DoLE wants it altered.

According to its eight-page writ of execution dated March 14, 2007 and signed by DoLE Undersecretary Luzviminda Padilla, “only 27 workers are due for reinstatement” while 25 of them shall obtain back wages starting on the date the SC issued its final ruling. The writ takes effect after 10 working days upon receipt by all parties concerned.

The Bagong Nagkakaisang Lakas sa NMPI (BANAL or New United Strength of Workers in NMPI) said that they received the writ on March 15 which was personally delivered at the workers’ picket line by a DoLE representative.

Upon reading it, BANAL’s vice president Rodel Diolata said, “This is far-fetched…a clear violation of the highest court’s decision,” he said.

During negotiations in January, NMPI’s Vice-President for Corporate Planning Val de Leon insisted that the management would only settle the separation pay of 25 workers.

The Japanese automotive assembler ceased its plant operations and issued a forced leave to its employees from March 19 until April 10, Diolata said. “In a synchronized and conspicuous move...Nissan management and DoLE know their depravity against the workers which is why they are evading workers’ immediate protests and actions,” he said. Bulatlat

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