Thursday, November 27, 2008 150 workers lose jobs By Nancy R. Cudis
WHILE various sectors struggle to remain optimistic, at least two companies in Mandaue City have admitted that the global financial crisis has taken its toll on their operations, forcing them to lay off several workers.
At Giardini del Sole Inc., a furniture manufacturing and exporting company in Mandaue City, about 150 probationary workers have been retrenched in the past two weeks.
Giovanni Boschi, the company’s owner and president, said that management decided to cut its work force in response to lower production, the result of declining orders.
At Energizer Philippines Inc., 44 workers—including mechanics, operators, managers and supervisors—
are expected to lose their jobs on Dec. 1.
Leon Cordero Jr., union president at the Energizer plant in Mandaue, said the management had explained to the employees the need to retrench to cope with the global financial crisis.
“Even if our (operations) are very efficient, the sales of our batteries are not doing so good, maybe because consumers now prioritize food and other basic needs,” he said.
Boschi admitted that if orders for the company’s exports continue to drop, Giardini might have to retrench some of its more or less 500 regular factory employees.
More job cuts
Like Boschi, Energizer employees’ union expect a new round of retrenchments if sales continue to go down.
Analysts forecast that the global financial crisis—which has put the US, Europe and Japan in recessions—will have a bigger impact on the Philippines next year.
Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board secretary Exequiel Sarcauga told ABS-CBN News that another export company in Cebu is planning to lay off about 300 workers, amid declining orders. He refused to identify the export company.
Boschi suggested that concerned government agencies, like the Social Security System and the Pag-ibig Fund, extend loans to help displaced workers.
“Even if these workers understand the whole situation of why they have to leave, they need money to survive,” he told reporters yesterday after the launching of the 2009 Outstanding Innovative Labor Relations Practices in Mandaue City.
Giardini del Sole, established in 1991, exports 90 percent of its products to other countries like the United States, Italy and Norway. But due to the financial crisis, these international clients, especially those in the US, began cutting orders by as much as half.
Still, Giardini continues to produce and sell furniture pieces for the local market that, Boschi noted, made a remarkable performance until last
September. He noted that sales have gone down recently as the local market may be feeling the pinch of the crisis.
To help recover from the shocks of the downward trend in sales, the company is offering discounts by as much as 30 percent.
But other companies have remained strong. Greencoil Industries Inc., manufacturer of Lion-Tiger mosquito coil products and aerosols, and glass manufacturer San Miguel Yamamura Asia have not cut their work forces.
Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Eric Mendoza said the government can implement “socialized” efforts that will increase the spending power of workers and not prompt them to line up the streets asking for food.
“When they have the spending power, there will (be business) production, then there will be sales and taxes will be collected. All these (will) manifest a growing economy. So let us put our differences aside and work together for a solution to a crisis that we don’t want to happen but we have no control of,” he said.
Mendoza noted that the problems in the US are worsening and families whose incomes come from remittances of their loved ones who work overseas will feel the effects of the crisis once the contracts of some overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) end this year. He also pointed out that OFWs, through the billions of dollars they send to their families in the country, are keeping the economy afloat.
He observed that the government is worried that labor displacements will result in social unrest and civil disobedience.
Sarcauga and Mandaue City Vice Mayor Carlo Fortuna assured, though, that the government is implementing programs that are meant to empower workers and help those displaced find new jobs.
Sarcauga cited the workers’ income augmentation program and the Department of Labor and Employment’s adjustment measures program, through which those employed in the formal sector who are affected by the crisis are given financial assistance after screening.
The Mandaue City Government, on the other hand, will offer skills training courses that will help displaced workers find alternative employment in sectors that are seen to survive the crisis, like food, education, and health.
“We will not wait for the National Government to sound the alarm for us. We are already doing something as a local government unit,” said Fortuna, who conceptualized the 2009 Outstanding Innovative Labor Relations Practices in Mandaue City as a way of promoting good labor practices to enhance business productivity, especially in times of financial crisis.
