SOME 42 workers of Real Steel Corporation (RSC) in San Simon town, Pampanga, who recently filed their resignation amid accusations of “maltreatment” claimed by alleged former employees against the plant’s management, appealed over the weekend for reinstatement and verbally expressed their intent to go back to their posts.
Last week, RSC was lambasted in national media for reports of the owner’s and management's alleged maltreatment of its employees which included physical abuse, unjust salaries and working hours, forced use of illegal drugs and detention of its employees hurled allegedly by former steel plant workers.
In the two-part series of the said report, it showed that several employees were “rescued” from the plant compound located along Quezon Road here.
In a press briefing on Tuesday, September 15, the RSC management said all accusations against them were far from the truth, that no “rescue” transpired as employees who wanted to resign were properly let go by the company, and only 42 employees went out on the day of inspection, contrary to claims that “there were more than 100 rescued.”
Of the total 400 employees, the 42 workers--clarified by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in Central Luzon--were allowed to leave the job site after they filed their resignation, reportedly due to “homesickness” after a six-month lockdown imposed by the company to prevent them from contracting Covid-19.
In a phone interview, DOLE Central Luzon Director Maria Zenaida Angara-Campita told mediamen "they were prevented to go out of the factory compound because of the quarantine issue and lockdown and health concerns."
'Misled'
The 42 workers, in appealing to the management to consider them back, claimed they were deceived by a former employee who allegedly “spread baseless and unfounded stories.”
"We were misled! Naniwala kami sa kwento ng dati naming kasamahan...wala po kaming reklamo laban sa kumpanya kasi maayos naman ang pagdala sa amin bukod sa maayos at airconditioned na barracks na aming tinutuluyan (We believed in the stories of one of our colleagues...we have no complaints against the company because our conditions are good aside from the airconditioned barracks where we stay)," said one of the employees who requested not to be named.
Assurance of welfare, safety
Angara-Campita said the DOLE inspection team has noted minor offenses and vowed to initiate corrective measures to improve the steel factory operations. She said the company is paying more than the minimum daily wage, each employee receiving P750 to 850 per day.
For his part, the town police chief issued a certificate of compliance on the mandatory drug testing of RSC workers as required by law.
Former police chief Major Freddie Herry said regular drug testing has been made to make sure that the workplace is drug-free as he belied reports that some laborers are being forced to sniff illegal drugs.
"No employee has been found positive for illegal drugs during random and regular drug testing," said Herry, adding he was relieved due to the false accusation by netizens on social media.
Meanwhile, RSC owner Irwin Chua stressed the company will continue to improve its systems and management for the welfare of its workers.
"Hindi po perpekto ang Real Steel pero sinisiguro po namin na tuloy-tuloy ang pag-improve ng aming sistema at pamamalakad," he said in a statement read to reporters by one of his staff.
Chua, a Filipino citizen, also asserted the value and contribution of his employees in the growth of the company through the years.
"I was taught that it is not money that runs the company but the employees, that is why we value each member of Real Steel," he said. (JTD with reports from Princess Clea Arcellaz)