DOLE mediation continues on surprise layoffs at Wyeth Nutrition
MANILA, Philippines (Updated 1:36 p.m.) — Discussions between the management and union of Wyeth Nutrition continue this week as laid-off workers continue to call for the reinstatement of 140 who were told in a surprise announcement on May 18 that they were being retrenched.
The union is worried that the layoffs are just the start of job cuts at the company and at other factories in the Calabarzon region. According to the regional development council, Calabarzon produces a third of the country's industrial output and contributed 16.8% of the Gross Domestic Product in 2017.
In an interview on TeleRadyo's "Kabayan" program on Wednesday, Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma said that meetings at the regional National Conciliation and Mediation Board office in Laguna started Tuesday and will resume Thursday.
He added that the company had filed a notice with the labor department that it would lay off personnel, but opted to pay workers instead of having them come in during the 30-day notice period.
"It shouldn't be that workers are just suddenly told that they no longer have jobs," Laguesma said in Filipino. He said that the matter could have been handled better through dialogue, which the union said last week it had been asking management for since March, when rumors of looming layoffs started.
"It would be better to talk this out, especially since there is a union representing the workers and they have just signed a Collective Bargaining Agreement on their relations for the next three to five years," he also said.
Retrenchment to prevent further losses and redundancy — the reason given to the laid-off workers last week — among the authorized causes for termination under the Labor Code. According to the Bureau of Labor Relations, employers must give "a written notice of dismissal to the employee specifying the grounds at least 30 days before the date of termination," with a copy of the notice sent to the regional office of the labor department.
Workers who are let go for redundancy are entitled to separation pay equivalent to one month pay or one month for every year of service, whichever is higher. Retrenched workers are entitled to separation pay equivalent to one month pay or half a month for every year of service, whichever is higher.
In a statement last week, Wyeth Nutrition said it would be giving workers severance packages "superior to what the law requires."
In a separate interview on the same program, Wyeth Philippines Progressive Workers Union president Debie Faigmani said the severance packages were "lower than what is practiced by our union...under the CBA."
He said that their call is still for the reinstatement of the 140 — including himself and nine other union officers.
Faigmani said that workers are worried that the layoffs to cut costs will mean more workers losing their jobs at Wyeth and at other factories.
"This will lead to massive job losses," he said.
Laguesma said that he hopes that talks progress and that, if termination of workers is the only option left to the company, "the workers affected should get the other benefits they are entitled to."
— Jonathan de Santos
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