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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. |
