When Bulatlat last visited Arnold Redondo, which was early last February, he still had his job as a production operator at Eighttech Manufacturing Corporation, one of the companies operating at the Cavite Export Processing Zone (CEPZ) which is the largest export-processing zone in the country – though he and his co-workers had been working for reduced working hours. This, so their superiors told them, was due to the adverse effects of the global financial crisis on the company. Last March 10, Arnold had to bid farewell to his job and became one of the over 18,000 in Cavite alone to lose their jobs amid the global financial crisis.
BY MARIANNE FAYE B. MIRAMBEL AND ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
LABOR WATCH
Bulatlat
When Bulatlat last visited Arnold Redondo, which was early last February, he still had his job as a production operator at Eighttech Manufacturing Corporation, one of the companies operating at the Cavite Export Processing Zone (CEPZ) which is the largest export-processing zone in the country. His working hours, however, had been reduced by then: he had been going to work only on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, or a total of only nine days a month.
This, so their superiors told them, was due to the adverse effects of the global financial crisis on the company.
“Bale, nag-umpisa sila noong September” (They started in September), he said. “Unti-unting nagbabawas ng tao, y’ong mga contractual tinatanggal hanggang sa dumating yung time na three days (a week) na lang y’ong pasok. Bale, six months kaming nag-three days a week.” They gradually laid off people, the contractual, and then the time came when we were made to work for only three days a week.)
Last March 10, Arnold had to bid farewell to his job. The company’s management had been announcing that it would eventually close down, and was offering separation pay packages to those who would volunteer to resign. Arnold was one of those who took the offer. For his six years of service to Eighttech Manufacturing Corporation, he received a separation pay of P40,000 ($839 at the current exchange rate of $1=P47.67).
The P40,000 ($839) got used up in only a month “Ibinayad din lang sa utang” (I used it to pay debts), he said.
His P298 ($6.25) daily wage for six years was hardly enough for him and his family to begin with, and it was only because both he and his wife were working that they could make both ends meet.
Arnold is just one of thousands of workers at CEPZ who have lost their jobs amid the global financial crisis.
Based on data gathered from a recent survey by the Solidarity of Cavite Workers (SCW), a total of 18,432 workers in Cavite alone lost their jobs from September 2008 to March 2009.
“In the Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) area, it is Cavite which has the worst job loss figures,” said Merly Grafe, SCW chairperson.
These figures, she said, cover three industries – the car, electronics, and garment industries.
Earlier this year, Labor Secretary Marianito Roque was forecasting the loss of some 300,000 jobs as a result of the crisis.
