DOLE offers financial grants to retrenched Triumph workers

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) will offer financial grants to retrenched workers of Triumph International to help them cope with the crisis.

Labor Secretary Marianito Roque said the grants would enable Triumph workers to put up their own undergarments business.

“Since they already have the necessary experience in making quality undergarments, we are offering them the capital to put up an undergarments business although on a smaller scale,” Roque disclosed yesterday.

Roque noted that Triumph’s factory would eventually fold up and leave thousands of its workers jobless.

Triumph workers, however, said they are open to other options just to avoid the closure of the company.

Maria Luisa Sol, Nagkakaisang Manggagawa ng Star Performance Inc. (NMSPI) union president, said they are trying to exert all effort to save the jobs of the Triumph employees.

“We are open to other options if there is a way to avoid the closure,” Sol said.             

If the closure is unavoidable, Sol said, just compensation should be provided to employees and management should guarantee that they would hire the same workers in case they resume operations in the country.

But after meeting with the Triumph management yesterday, Roque said the decision to close the undergarments firm is final.

“It’s a global decision, their factories in other countries are also closing down so we could not prevent its closure. We will just have to assist the affected workers,” Roque stressed.

He said DOLE would work with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to help workers market the undergarments they will make once they start their own business.

Roque also said DOLE is opening the emergency employment vacancies for Triumph workers who are not interested in putting up their own business.

“We will be providing them help all the way,” Roque assured.

Triumph announced Saturday it would cease manufacturing and close its distribution center in the Philippines on Aug. 28 due to the global recession and general downturn in consumer demand.

But Triumph said its sales and marketing in the Philippines would continue.

Meanwhile, Malacañang also assured the soon-to-be displaced workers of Triumph International that they would be assisted by the government under its Comprehensive Livelihood and Emergency Employment Program (CLEEP).

Deputy presidential spokesperson Lorelei Fajardo said the DOLE would be tasked to look into the benefits that would be given to Triumph employees.

“Once we have found out what happened to them, we will ask Labor Secretary Roque to place the former employees of Triumph International under the CLEEP,” Fajardo said.

The CLEEP is the administration’s nationwide effort intended to protect the country’s most vulnerable sectors such as the poor, returning overseas workers, workers in the export industry and out-of-school youths, from threats and consequences of reduced or lost income as a consequence of the global economic crisis by providing emergency employment and funding and supervising livelihood projects. 

Fajardo said that the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) would also be directed to give additional training for the displaced employees in order to provide them with more skills for their future employment. - With Marvin Sy