Labor dep't send team to probe Taytay sweatshop

by Martin P. Marfil
from Philippine Daily Inquirer
July 4, 2003

May be closed 'if warranted'

A team of inspectors has been dispatched to a garments factory in Taytay, Rizal, to look into workers' complaints of sweatshop conditions there, including 48- or 72-hour work shifts reportedly made possible by an insomnia-inducing drug.

The team was expected to submit a report on work conditions at Anvil Ensembles Thursday afternoon, said Nicon Fameronag, information director of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

Asked whether the factory would be closed down, Fameronag said it would be "if warranted."

Ernesto Herrera, secretary general of the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) and a former lawmaker, urged the DOLE to investigate the allegation that Anvil owners were offering the drug Duromine to workers to enable them to meet production quotas.

"You cannot force anyone to take drugs..." Herrera said in a phone interview. "If drugs are going to be used, these should be drugs that will promote the health of workers. And they should be administered upon the advice of doctors."

But Herrera does not recommend Anvil's closure.

"Closure is too drastic. The workers will lose their jobs. What is important is to protect their rights," he said, echoing the sentiments of the workers interviewed for a special report published Wednesday by the Inquirer.

The report said Anvil, a subcontractor of baby clothes for such First World companies as Sears & Roebuck, had been offering its workers the antiobesity drug Duromine. It said the drug supposedly made its way to the assembly lines in September, when orders started pouring in.

Other supposed labor violations by Anvil included payment of salaries below the minimum wage, non-remittance of social security contributions, unsanitary conditions, and forced overtime.

Taytay mayor June Zapanta said he invited Anvil treasurer Augusto Lazo to a dialogue after reading the Inquirer report.

"I asked him to meet me at 9 a.m. tomorrow (Friday). I hope he shows up," Zapanta said.

The mayor visited the factory in barangay (village) Bangiad, but was not allowed inside.

"A guard told me that none of the owners was around," he said. "Well, it is their right if they don't want to let us in. I respect that. But I hope I can talk to [Lazo]."

Zapanta said he asked some workers if the complaints were true, but "it seems nobody wants to talk." Nonetheless, he has ordered the heads of the Taytay health, human resources, and permit and license departments to look into the matter.

Zapanta also said he was "very surprised" at the Inquirer report.

"My house is just a few blocks away from the factory. I didn't know something like that was going on in there," he said.

Militant group: not unusual

But the militant group Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) said that the situation at Anvil was just the "tip of the iceberg."

According to KMU chair Elmer Labog, sweatshop workers are the most exploited among contractual workers because they get jobs on a seasonal basis, do not get benefits, receive low wages, and are subjected to inhumane working conditions.

"Unfortunately, owners of sweatshops and cottage industries are not being punished by the DOLE," Labog said. "Much worse, these kinds of enterprises are not being monitored closely by officials."

Labog said that in the case of Anvil and other labor-intensive, export-oriented industries like textile, garments and semiconductors, employers tended to extend work hours through forced paid or unpaid overtime to meet quotas.

The lack of job security produces docile workers, enabling employers to increase their workloads, he said.

He also said the Anvil case indicated how much "greedy capitalists" were making in profits.

"It's very likely that other sweatshops employing seasonal and child labor are into illegal drug use," he added.

Efforts by the Inquirer to contact acting labor secretary Manuel Imson proved fruitless.

Herrera said Drug Watch, which he chairs, had noted an "alarming" increase in the use of illegal drugs in the work place.

Data from the TUCP tend to support this.

TUCP spokesperson Alex Aguilar said a survey conducted last year showed that 10-15 percent of about 6.5 million young workers were using illegal drugs.

He said most of them were telephone repairmen, drivers, prostitutes, and factory workers.

Aguilar said those factory workers who were using drugs were found in the manufacturing sector.

He said the survey was part of a TUCP survey on problems confronted by young workers in the workplace.

With a report from Luige del Puerto