DoLE orders firm: Pay 'sleepless' workers P5.8M

by Martin P. Marfil
from The Philippine Daily Inquirer
July 5, 2003

Labor law violation

Lim said Anvil's failure to comply with these directives would result in "necessary action ... for criminal prosecution."

The compliance order was issued a day after the DOLE sent a team of inspectors to the factory in Taytay, Rizal, to look into allegations that Anvil management had failed to comply with labor laws and offered its workers the insomnia-inducing Duromine drug during 48- to 72-hour work shifts, to enable them to meet production quotas.

The Inquirer ran a special report on Wednesday detailing the workers' complaints.

The team of inspectors, which included two doctors, recommended that drug tests be conducted on Anvil workers.

But according to the report signed by team leader Dr. Melba Sacro, Anvil management officials denied giving workers Duromine, a regulated drug belonging to the amphetamine and methamphetamine families.

The officials were quoted as saying that workers were given ascorbic acid tablets coupled with energy drinks like Lipovitan and Extra Joss, and that these were given only during peak seasons.

Taytay Mayor June Zapanta said this was also what Anvil treasurer Augusto Lazo told him during a closed-door, 30-minute meeting at the town hall Friday morning.

"Mr. Lazo said he gave his workers ascorbic acid, not Duromine. He also gave them an energy drink," Zapanta said.

In interviews with the Inquirer for the special report, Anvil workers said they had earlier thought they were being given ascorbic acid and other vitamins.

Zapanta set a meeting with Lazo after learning of the Inquirer report. He visited the factory the other day but was not allowed inside.

The Inquirer caught up with Lazo after the meeting, but he refused to talk.

Zapanta said Lazo was "cool all throughout the meeting" and amenable to cooperating with the investigation that the municipal government had initiated.

"They're willing to be inspected by the DOLE or by us," Zapanta said.

Drug tests

Acting Labor Secretary Manuel Imson said the proposed drug tests on Anvil workers would be handled by the police.

He noted the DOLE team's recommendation that the tests be conducted within the "detection period" of two to four days, depending on the metabolism rate and excretion of the individual user.

The DOLE team said some of the workers were reluctant to talk but a number cooperated and validated "discrepancies" noted in the testimony of certain management officials.

In its report, the team said: "Workers' descriptions of the tablets given them does not fit the description of the ordinary ascorbic acid tablet. The tablets, according to the workers, were small, white, and given so that they would not fall asleep."

Zapanta said Rizal police chief Senior Superintendent Carlito Dimaano wanted to raid the Anvil factory after reading the Inquirer report.

"He was furious," the mayor said. "He wanted to raid the factory. Fortunately he listened to me. I asked him, 'Do we have papers? We can get sued if we don't have papers. Besides, what will we find there now?'"

Zapanta insisted that his main concern was to protect the workers, and not to close down the factory.

"We don't want anyone to lose his job," he said.

Anvil Ensembles is a subcontractor of baby clothes for such First World companies as Sears & Roebuck.

A group of workers from Novelty Philippines Inc., of which Anvil is also a subcontractor, yesterday picketed the factory in Barangay Bangiad.

Partido ng Masa chair Renato Magtubo said the picket was intended to show disgust over how workers were being treated by capitalists.

"These capitalist lords within Anvil management are no doubt worse than the drug lords that the government now wants to put behind bars," Magtubo said.

Anselmo Avenido Jr., chief of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, admitted that it had not heard of the operations of Anvil Ensembles.

"Now that we know, we will investigate," Avenido told the Inquirer.

Trade Secretary Manuel Roxas II has also ordered a probe, to be conducted by the Garments and Textile Export Board, an attached agency of the Department of Trade and Industry.

"We are investigating these allegations to protect our workers as well as the export business," Roxas said in a statement.

He added: "The possibility of unscrupulous persons deceiving government, customers and workers for profit exists. That is why the DTI-GTEB is working with the private sector and other government agencies to prevent this."

Senator Francis Pangilinan, chair of the Senate committee on justice and human rights, said the DOLE should find out who is the real employer of the factory workers who had complained about the sweatshop conditions at Anvil.

"Who is accountable? Is it Anvil Ensembles, or the contractors themselves?" Pangilinan said in a phone interview.

Pinpointing accountability will help determine "the liability in the employer-employee relationship based on labor laws," the senator said.

Senator Ramon Magsaysay Jr., vice chair of the Senate labor committee, also said a thorough investigation by the DOLE was in order.