Panphil Workers, U4WR Call to Stop Unjust Retrenchment

Mactan, Cebu – Workers of Panphil Sportswear, Inc. and U4WR, Unity for Workers’ Rights, are calling to stop the unjust retrenchment that has affected 31 workers of the said company.  

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At around 3pm last February 2, towards the end their shift, Julio Tenio, Danilo Revilla and Myrna Berdin, officers of U4WR, a mass organization of workers in Mactan Export Processing Zone (MEPZ) were surprised when they, including 27 more, were suddenly summoned by Glenda Aclan, Plant-manager of Panphil. They were told that they no longer have to work by February 28, 2010. Aclan also mentioned that there will be another batch of retrenchment

According to the management, the retrenchment was due to financial difficulties of the company brought about by lack of order, dollar devaluation, and high cost of production. The company claims to have done all cost cutting schemes and retrenchment has been it only and final resort so it can continue its operation.

Retrenched workers however, say otherwise. They aver being fooled by the management with the latter’s claims of decreasing job orders because although regular workers were reduced, the company maintains on-call and contractual workers whom the company pays only P170 per day as compared to P267 daily wage of regular workers.  

The workers also learned that Panphil failed to submit a retrenchment plan to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). That is why despite the company’s offer of an early payment of separation dues, the workers are still resolved to file cases against the management and assert their jobs back.

Forced leave

Morning before the management announced the retrenchment, workers of Panphil were surprised with the presence of workers of Yuenthai (one of the largest garments company in MEPZ) cleaning the factory. They tried to ask the management about this but the latter did not explain. In the same afternoon, following the announcement of lay-offs, Aclan also told 168 workers from four production lines that they do not have to go to work from February 4 to 8. Those affected included members of U4WR and regular workers of the factory.

Past schemes

The workers of Panphil apparently have long experienced flexible schedule even before the retrenchment. In CTUHR’s documentation, it appears that last January 15, 2010, Panphil already implemented a compressed workweek scheme from January 20 to March 1. Last 2009, the company also temporarily closed for five different times which lasted from seven days to two months.

Unjust reasons

“Panphil’s reason for sudden retrenchment is unjust,” says Daisy Arago, Executive Director of CTUHR. “Whenever they wish to lay-off [workers] they just do it without following processes such as the submission to the DOLE of a retrenchment plan, which is a requirement before a company proceeds with retrenching workers. Although the crisis is real, it must not be a justification for the management to easily retrench regular workers and replace them with contractual, on call workers whom they pay less wages.  

Second, it is hard to believe the claim that Panphil is going bankrupt because even before the crisis, they have already been implementing temporary shutdowns after a period of overtime. This only means that when Panphil has finished its “orders” in a shorter timeframe, it forces the workers to take a leave. With this scheme, the company is sure to lessen the cost of production and maximize its profits,” Arago added.

Panphil is one of the garments factories in MEPZ. It produces clothes for export such as Callway, Missy, Alex Canon and Tommy Hilfiger.

Stronger unity

Twenty-seven out of the 31 retrenched workers are members of U4WR. With the successive attacks to them by the capitalists, the workers vow to strengthen their unity to make Panphil accountable. U4WR was established in 2009 amidst the massive retrenchment as a result of the global recession. At the moment, the workers continue to seek dialogue with the management of Panphil as they prepare to file cases so they can go back to work.#