Group to raise fight vs Holcim to Dole

DAVAO. Terminated employees of cement manufacturing firm Lafarge Holcim Ltd. in a press conference at Paterno's Restaurant in Davao City. (Photo by Ralph Lawrence G. Llemit)
DAVAO. Terminated employees of cement manufacturing firm Lafarge Holcim Ltd. in a press conference at Paterno's Restaurant in Davao City. (Photo by Ralph Lawrence G. Llemit)

TERMINATED employees of cement manufacturing firm Lafarge Holcim Ltd. will now raise their petition to Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III after Department of Labor and Employment (Dole)-Davao failed to take action on their demand to be reinstated.

Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa-Davao Chapter (Sentro-Davao) coordinator Michael M. Ibañez said they already lost hope that all 75 Holcim Cement workers will be regularized, alleging Holcim is manipulating Dole-Davao's order.

From the count of 100, 25 of the terminated employees already withdrew on the case.

Ibañez also slammed the regional labor office for its slow action on their petition.

"Usually, actionan nila dayon na. Basta naa labor request, magpagawas sila dayon og inspection result. Ang nahitabo sa Holcim, naabtan pag usa ka tuig una pa nila gigawas ang inspection result (They usually take action whenever there is a labor request filed to them. On our case, it took them a year before they could release their inspection result)," he said in a press conference at Paterno's Restaurant.

The union leader also questioned Dole-Davao for not giving the Davao Holcim Employees Workers Union-Sentro (Dahewu-Sentro) an official copy of the order

Ibañez also said Dole's inconsistent order of number of employees to be reinstated had decreased throughout. However, he said neither a single employee was regularized, hence they hired scabs while their petition is still ongoing.

"Dako kini nga insulto, pakaulaw sila mismo sa presidente tungod sa ilang gihimo. Ilang gidefy ang panaad sa presidente (Their action is a huge insult to the president. They defied what the president mandated)," he said, referring to the Executive Order 51 signed by President Rodrigo Duterte, an order protecting the workers’ right to security of tenure.

Meanwhile, Ibañez and his colleagues challenged the management of Holcim to release the closed circuit television (CCTV) footage to determine the suspect behind the removal of the streamers installed by Dahewu-Sentro on May 1, Labor Day.

The group holds the Holcim management responsbile behind the "cowardly attack."

Ibañez said the union intends to file appropriate case before Dole, Philippine National Police (PNP), Commission on Human Rights (CHR), and international labor groups International Labor Organisation (Ilo) and the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD).

Meanwhile, Holcim continues to deny the group's allegation, saying the company "respects the right to freedom of speech even if some have misused and abused this right at the company’s expense by their false and unfounded pronouncements on Holcim's alleged violation of labor laws and employee rights."

"Whoever removed those streamers, had no other motive but to unjustly put Holcim to shame, which, will not prosper as Holcim follows the law and respects human rights and will continue to do so," Holcim said.

Dole-Davao Assistant Director Jason Balais said in a previous interview that the agency continues to monitor the situation.

Balais said Dole had been mediating in the discussion between two parties.

However, he said he cannot issue a statement regarding the group's recent statement, as the case is still ongoing.

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