Labor group hits Keppel's 2-day workweek

CEBU, Philippines - The labor group Partido ng Manggagawa yesterday criticized the management of Keppel Phils. for implementing a two-day workweek in order to force its workers to agree to its redundancy offer.

Dennis Derige, spokesman of PM in Cebu said that in the one month since an agreement was forged last April 8 between management and the union, Keppel has consistently tried to sabotage the settlement by reportedly blackmailing the workers into submitting to the redundancy plan by shortening the workweek.

"At the height of the dispute in March, Keppel workers were working just three days in a week. Now it is just two days in a week thus workers’ take home pay has been reduced to a third," he said.

A labor dispute has been brewing in the Keppel shipyard since March with workers alleging management is out to bust the union Nagkahiusang Mamumuo sa Baradero Keppel Shipyard-National Federation of Labor.

Derige said that Keppel’s reduction in workdays is tantamount to a violation of the April 8 agreement. Section 3 of the agreement stipulates that neither side will engage in actions that will exacerbate the situation.

Derige added that Keppel is trying to starve the workers so they will agree to surrender their rights.

“We warn management that their blackmail will not work. Keppel workers are not alone. The labor movement will support Keppel workers in their fight,” he said.

PM also criticized the Department of Labor and Employment for lying about the real status of the labor situation wherein for several weeks the DOLE allegedly on repeating the marketing line that companies are rehiring and layoffs are ebbing.

The Keppel union still has a pending notice of strike that it has not withdrawn. Since majority of the workforce has voted for the strike, the union can go on strike at any moment, Derige added.

Last month Keppel announced it was shifting operations from ship repair to shipbuilding and said it would lay off workers whose jobs have become redundant. – Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon/BRP (THE FREEMAN)