DOLE probes alleged union busting in Chinese-owned tech firm

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Labor and Employment is probing alleged union-busting after a Chinese tech firm in Manila fired 689 employees.

In a statement on Tuesday, DOLE said more than 200 former employees of a Chinese mobile phone manufacturer—which produces its namesake Android phone—trooped to its Intramuros office to protest their termination and asked for help from the state.

“Before anything, I call on the dismissed workers to formally file a complaint at DOLE so we can fully execute our job on the matter,” Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said.

“That’s a very sad story during the pandemic. But we need to get all the information about this so we can act on it accordingly,” Bello added.

Terminated workers told labor officials that the firm retrenched them due to “business losses.” Before the mass firing, employees said they convened to form a labor union and even brokered a collective bargaining agreement with management. Much to workers’ dismay, they said the company failed to comply with its obligations under the deal.

The situation took a turn for the worse after management later hired workers thru a manpower agency, replacing the unionized employees.

“How can that be when each of us was selling 50 units of cellphones equivalent to P300,000 per month? They’re earning. Our termination from work has no legal cause,” a former employee said in the protest.