120,000 workers lost jobs in 2009

CEBU, Philippines - At least 120,000 workers were affected by layoffs, job-rotation and wage cuts in 2009, some 40,000 them were laid off since October, according to the worker’s partylist, the Partido ng Manggagawa, quoting the figures from the Department of Labor and Employment.

In its year-end report on labor situation in 2009, PM stated that big multinational firms based in the Philippines have shutdown in the space of one year and majority of these are situated in Cebu.

 The Canadian-owned electronics factory Celestica in Cebu, shutdown in August displacing 900 workers. In September, a Taiwanese-owned conglomerate of garments firms called Sports City in Cebu that produces for world-famous brands Adidas and Reebok retrenched 1,000 workers. 

Up to 400 retrenched workers of Maitland-Smith Cebu, Inc. have also filed cases of illegal retrenchment against the management.

 PM said that some 1,700 workers who produce high-end home furniture and accessories in the Mactan Economic Zone in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu also lose their jobs.

Also, over 200 laid off workers of Lear Automotive, an American company at MEPZ that exports electronics parts for cars, have filed cases while the remaining 11,000 workers of the said company are currently working on reduced workdays.

PM further said that some 15 retrenched workers have filed cases against Taiyo Yuden Philippines Inc, a Japanese subsidiary that produces spare parts for cellular phones located at MEPZ. The remaining 8,000 workers are also on reduced workdays.

The first workers strike against mass layoffs erupted last February at Giardini del Sole, a furniture export firm in Mandaue City wherein hundreds of workers went on strike for two days and paralyzed operations of the company by physically preventing the passage of personnel and goods.

In April, the first ever rally was held inside MEPZ wherein around 70 workers of Sauna World Inc., a Finnish-owned firm producing sauna and spa heaters for export, marched from their factory to the gates of the export zone.

Last June, the first picket line was setup on the gates at MEPZ by the workers of Paul Yu Industrial Corp., one of the biggest factories in the zone that produces lamp shades for export. More than 300 workers went on a month-long work stoppage in protest for the suspension of seven leaders of their workers association.

By September of last year, still at MEPZ, workers of Altamode Inc., which makes clothes for the American firm Abercrombie & Fitch, successfully formed a union though they lost the certification elections due to alleged management interference in the workers’ exercise of the freedom to organize and the DOLE’s indifference to the unfair labor practice of the company.

“The global economic crisis and the slowdown in the local economy had a grave impact on the lives and livelihood of workers in the Philippines. Job losses, mainly in the export sector of the economy, are worsening the unemployment and underemployment rate,” PM stressed. — Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon/WAB (THE FREEMAN)