Jobs await displaced Hanjin workers — DOLE

MANILA, Philippines — Workers at Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Philippines who will lose their jobs can be reemployed either here or abroad, according to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

Zenaida Campita, DOLE-Central Luzon regional director, said their Public Employment Service Offices were asked to facilitate the reemployment of Hanjin workers in construction firms and allied services.

The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration was also tasked to submit job vacancies abroad for affected Hanjin workers.

The DOLE activated a technical working group to monitor and provide assistance to workers affected by Hanjin’s financial losses.

Based on a report to the DOLE last October, Hanjin had 21 subcontractors with 11,526 employees.

Campita said the number of Filipino workers employed at Hanjin dropped from 31,621 in 2016 to 23,881 in 2017.

Last year, 18 Hanjin contractors and subcontractors filed notices of retrenchments and reduction of work days.

Two subcontractors – Subic Shipbuilder Corp. and Hacor-Phil Corp. – filed voluntary retrenchment programs due to lack of orders and financial difficulties.

Campita said over 4,000 professional and skilled workers at Hanjin lost their jobs last year.

She said the remaining 16 subcontractors filed reduction of work days affecting 3,770 workers.

Hanjin has filed a financial rehabilitation plan before the Olongapo City court.

Meanwhile, the Makabayan bloc of seven leftist party-list lawmakers is asking the House of Representatives to look into the collapse of Hanjin.

“It is a wonder why a foreign corporation like Hanjin is filing for bankruptcy. After all, it is the biggest shipping company in the country and one of the biggest in Asia,” the group said in a resolution.

The lawmakers said the Duterte administration is ”about to take advantage of the shipbuilder’s problems to insert a close ally into the picture.”

The group also asked the House to look into Hanjin’s labor practices. – With Jess Diaz