Job concerns have been rising, with workers trooping to the local NLRC office to complain about having been illegally dismissed. Workers seek redress as firms go for ‘bitter pill’

CEBU CITY — Local business leader Edward S. Gaisano has only one advice for working couples: Make sure of employment in different industries.

“So that when one is fired because the industry he/she is in has been affected by the crisis, one still has a job,” he said.

Job concerns have been rising in the region, with more and more workers trooping to the local National Labor Relations Commission ( NLRC) office to complain about having been illegally dismissed.

Fe Cabigon, NLRC Cebu administrative officer, said she had received a total of 295 complaints as of January 30. The largest involved up to 200 workers.

“We get complaints everyday. It’s highly unusual, although the employers have been gradually making payments,” Ms. Cabigon said.

She said the biggest number of complainants came from furniture exporter Maitland Smith Cebu, Inc. whose human resources manager, Damian Gomez, Jr. said were contractuals, not regular workers.

“They were not really terminated. Their job was completed last month. We still have orders, but these are not enough to allow us to retain the contractual workers,” Mr. Gomez said.

Over 1,000 workers have been retained, he said, but the firm had reduced its work week to five days.

“The orders are really bad because our products are directly related to housing. We’re in the same situation as other companies worldwide,” Mr. Gomez said.

Maitland- Smith, whose parent firm is headquartered in High Point, North Carolina, produces high-end home furniture and accessories.

Meanwhile, over 200 workers of Nozomi Fortune Services, Inc., a manpower agency that services locators at the Mactan Economic Zone, have also filed a complaint for illegal dismissal and demanded separation pay.

“The agency has started paying some of the workers. So far, we have not encountered any deadlock in any of the cases filed this month,” Ms. Cabigon said.

Another furniture exporter, Giardini del Sole Manufacturing and Trading Corp., has retrenched around 400 regular workers for lack of orders. The newly organized labor union has filed a strike notice.

Elias A. Cayanong, regional director of the Labor department in the Central Visayas, said the manufacturing sector was being closely monitored. No figures, however, were available regarding the total number of layoffs or those affected by flexible work arrangements.

“Statistics are very erratic because there are some companies that don’t inform us about the retrenchments or new work arrangements,” Mr. Cayanong said.

Apolinar G. Suarez, Jr., Philexport Cebu chairman, said exporters sympathized with workers.

“But retrenchments are inevitable. The economy now is really bad and exports are really down. There is clear and present danger for the exporters,” he said.

Mr. Suarez said he and other small and medium-sized exporters had swallowed the bitter pill and right-sized their organizations to cope.

“The big ships are really hit this time with canceled POs ( purchase orders) and outstanding accounts that are not being paid,” Mr. Suarez said, referring to furniture companies Maitland- Smith and Giardini.

Cebu’s furniture industry employs around 200,000, excluding those who work for hundreds of subcontractors. Some furniture firms have gone local but competition is very stiff in the domestic market, Mr. Suarez said.

In the Eastern Visayas, meanwhile, Labor department officials were optimistic. Regional director Forter Puguon claimed no retrenchments due to the global downturn had so far been reported.

“We have received recently reports of displaced workers but it’s a result of poor business management. Some are just regular retrenchments,” he claimed.

Mr. Puguon said, nonetheless, that export industries and migrant workers were under watch. He said four overseas Filipino workers had been forced to go home as of Jan. 30 because of the global crisis.

Major exporters Philippine Associated Smelting and Refining Corp. and the Philippine Phosphate Fertilizer Corp. promised that they would not lay off workers this year, he claimed.

“This a good indication considering that these companies account for over 80% in the regional export performance,” Mr. Puguon said.

He said the outlook for the current quarter remained positive. “Most of our businesses here are stores and restaurants serving the local market. I think they will be the least to be affected in this crisis.”

But he also said they were closely monitoring the region’s eight coconut oil mills. “Coconut oil mills might be affected as well because the foreign buyers are shifting to cheaper vegetable oil such as palm.”