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2009 bad for working class: Labor-based party-list group
The Sun Star - January 1, 2010
Elias O. Baquero – The Partido ng Manggagawa (PM), a labor-based party-list group, yesterday said the year 2009 was bad for the working class because thousands were laid off allegedly due to the global financial crisis.
In a statement e-mailed to Sun.Star Cebu, Dennis Derige of PM said that in Cebu, the Canadian-owned electronics factory Celestica Inc. closed in August, displacing 900 workers.
Last September, a Taiwanese-owned garment firms called Sports City retrenched 1,000 workers.
According to Derige, employers are passing the burden of the crisis on to the workers. Capitalists are using the global crisis as an excuse to demolish workers' rights and undercut labor standards, he said.
He added that up to 400 retrenched workers of Maitland Smith Cebu Inc. have filed cases of illegal retrenchment against the company before the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC).
Maitland has 1,700 workers producing high-end home furniture and accessories inside the Mactan Economic Zone (MEZ) in Lapu-Lapu City. Its mother company is Maitland Smith in High Point, North Carolina in the United States.
Over 200 laid-off workers of Lear Automotive, an American firm which is also located at MEZ, also filed cases against their company. Lear, which exports electronic parts for cars, has 11,000 remaining workers on reduced workdays.
Derige also said some 15 retrenched workers charged Taiyo Yuden with unfair labor practice, a case now pending before the NLRC.
Taiyo Yuden is a Japanese subsidiary that produces spare parts for cellular phones at MEZ. The company has 8,000 remaining workers on reduced workdays.
"Labor unrest is brewing as capitalists attack jobs, wages and working conditions. Although the revival in the workers' struggle is uneven, the return to militant struggle is taking shape. At the forefront of the new struggles are the workers of Metro Cebu," read the party-list's statement.
PM supported the first strike against mass layoffs at Giardini del Sole in Mandaue City last February. The labor dispute was settled after the company operation was paralyzed for two days.
Other strikes were held in April against Finnish-owned Sauna World Inc., and in June against Taiwanese-owned Paul Yu Philippines. Both are located at MEZ.
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