Workers under the Liwayway Workers Union (LWU-Anglo-KMU) staged a protest action at the DOLE Central Visayas office last September 19 and 22 against the company’s widespread retrenchments. They staged the protest while their case against contractualization was being heard inside the agency. For months now, the factory where they worked has been closed due after the company transferred operations from Mandaue City to Liloan, both in Cebu.

Meanwhile, the Alyansa sa mga Mamumuo sa Sugbo-KMU condemned the firing of 4,485 workers in five clothing factories owned by a Taiwanese company in the Mactan Export Processing Zone. The layoffs were announced last September 29. According to the group, the real purpose of the retrenchments is to keep the wages low and to avoid implementing wage orders. The group pointed out that the P425 daily wages Filipino workers receive are very low compared their Taiwanese counterparts who receive ₱1,631/day.

In addition, the group received reports that the companies were hiring new workers to immediately replace those it fired. “It is a huge injustice to the workers who lost their jobs because of the intense crisis in the world, only to be replaced by others.”

The companies cited the imminent global recession with high inflation and poor financial conditions as the cause for closure. Like other manufacturing subsectors, textile manufacturing relies on foreign material and machinery. Production is oriented for the global market.

In addition to the Mactan retrenchments, Shopee Philippines also fired an undisclosed number of workers.