IRRI Workers Assail Retrenchment

Los Banos, Laguna – Around 170 Filipino workers at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) are expected to lose their jobs in September under a retrenchment program set to be implemented by IRRI starting this month.

BY BULATLAT.COM

The Brotherhood of IRRI Support Services Group (BISSIG), an organization supporting IRRI workers, stated that IRRI Director General Ronald Cantrell first discussed the retrenchment program with managerial employees in September 2001. IRRI management reportedly said retrenchment is unavoidable due to funding shortfall.

IRRI’s Filipino workers however questioned why IRRI is giving increased benefits to internationally recruited staff (IRS) if it has a funding shortage. An IRS reportedly receives a huge salary that is paid in US dollars and enjoys educational benefits for his/her children.  BISSIG also revealed that IRS members are provided with imported service cars, food and travel allowances and even Filipino household helpers, all at the expense of IRRI.

 “There is no funding shortfall but rather rampant corruption and mismanagement of IRRI’s fund,” said BISSIG president Jun Layosa.  Layosa said that the retrenchment program is aimed to eliminate regular workers in IRRI and replace them with contractual and project-basis employees.

Layosa also charged that IRRI management has already terminated some 1,500 Filipino workers since 1989 not because of financial difficulties but to solve the labor unrest triggered by discrimination and repression against the Filipino employees.

Raymundo Mercado, a local peasant leader, said that most of the workers being retrenched are suffering from various illnesses as a result of chronic exposure to toxic chemicals and pesticide used in IRRI’s programs. BISSIG said Mercado and other farm workers were terminated in 1996 when management learned of their ailments and sought to elude legal responsibilities.

IRRI is a private research institute established by a foreign foundation in 1959.  It was afforded with absolute immunity by Marcos government in 1979 by virtue of Presidential Decree 1620 and recognized as an international institution.  But, according to BISSIG, a check with the International Labor Organization (ILO) reveals that IRRI is not an institute under United Nations (UN). Hence, only the Philippine government recognizes IRRI as an international institution. Bulatlat.com    

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