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The workers vowed to seek justice and pursue their demands for regularization as they prepare for the negotiation with Middleby at the Office of the Secretary of Labor on July 12.
“Middleby, a US-owned corporation, should be ashamed to call itself a world leader if it could not even respect the rights of its workers here and abroad.”
"I never expected it to happen to me, I told myself, since I received many awards honoring my loyalty and service.”
The workers have faced threats of illegal dismissal, salary deductions, underpaid overtime work of P619 pesos for 12 hours, lack of health insurance, and other inhumane working conditions.
Nineteen workers and a senior high school member of the League of Filipino Students were arrested and brought to Meycauayan Police Station.
To them, it is no longer just about wages –- it is a bigger fight they need to win to regain their dignity as workers after their rights have been trampled upon for so long.
In a bid to defend their picket line, the workers sat and huddled together on the flooded ground in front of the factory inside an industrial park.
Of the total 1,400 workers in NutriAsia only around 100 are regular workers.
“We shall also revisit and exhaust other options and channels to ensure that Mary Jane is rightfully saved from the gallows on legal, political and humanitarian grounds.”
There is a huge difference between the salaries of top government officials, including Cabinet secretaries and Undersecretaries like Diokno and Edillon on one hand, and the salaries of ordinary rank-and-file employees on the other hand.
From 2006 to May 2018, at least 60 workers have died working in the shipyard due to the unsafe working environment. On May 12 this year, eight workers fell from a scaffolding, leaving two dead and two others in comatose. Workers also have tasks that require them to work under the glare of the sun the whole day, and some work with asbestos, a chemical that has already been banned. Despite all these violations of occupational safety and health standards, no has been held liable.
He (company representative) said it is prohibited to form a union, what nonsense! Even the clapping of hands is against the law? He is making up these laws. There is nothing in the law that prohibits the clapping of hands.
At the Philippine General Hospital, patients have been increasing but employees have been decreasing, thereby affecting service delivery.
“Even now that we are contractuals we suffer hardships because our salaries are meager. What more if we lose our jobs.”
“There is no way we could scrimp so there’ll be enough for our needs.”
“Truth be told, the wages of our workers have long been stunted and its purchasing power gravely diminished.”
They work 12 hours every day, with regular four-hour overtime that often turns into an overnight overtime.
“The patients are increasing but the manpower is not. With this kind of set up, health workers, who are mostly overworked, are vulnerable to mistakes.”
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