Struggling Through Tough Times

With the US dominating the world economy, the effects of this crunch have spread to other countries including the Philippines – affecting multitudes of workers who are now struggling to simply live through the difficult times.

BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO | Bulatlat 

Alfredo Aquino, Jr., a father of four children and the only breadwinner in his family, worked for Dyna Image Corporation – a Taiwanese-owned company that manufactures contact image censors – for nine years. All his hard work for the company ended on Jan. 30 when he received his last paycheck.

Dyna Image Corporation, one of the companies based at the Cavite Export Processing Zone (CEPZ), has retrenched no less than 400 of its more than a thousand employees in the last few months.

Aquino was one of those who were axed. For his nine years of service to the company, he received only a little more than P46,500 ($979 at the current exchange rate of $1=P47.496) – when according to the law, he should have received P10,000 ($210) for every year of service.

He said he has a job prospect at a company in Manila where one of his cousins works, but for now, he whiles the time away – and tries to make both ends meet – by running a small business (he sells goto or rice porridge with ox tripe). He and his family are also striving to survive on his separation pay.

The times, he said, are proving to be particularly hard for him and his family. “Kung p’wede akong umiyak, iiyak ako, e” (If I could cry, I would), he said.

Last November, 19-year-old Rhad Eguna lost her job at the Philippine International Manufacturing & Engineering Services Corporation, or P.IMES, where she worked for eight months. She was supposed to have been regularized after her sixth month, but she remained a contractual employee for the last two months before she was laid off.

That was only her second job (her first job was as a domestic helper). She is not even 20 and she has been through two jobs already, and now she has been searching for another job for two months.

P.IMES, a CEPZ-based company that is 99.998 percent Japanese-owned, manufactures CD-ROM drives and subcompact or passbook printers. In the last few months, it has retrenched some 100-200 of its 1,500 employees. Eguna was one of those swept in this wave of job cuts at the company.

At that rate, cousins Arnold Redondo and Zaldy Rapiñan can be considered “lucky” for still having their jobs at Eighttech Manufacturing Corporation and Kuy Manufacturing Corporation, respectively. Both companies are also CEPZ-based electronics companies. However, Redondo and Rapinan now work for reduced working hours: both now go to work only on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Since last September, they have been going to work for only nine days each month.

Both have families already and are having difficulties making both ends meet – with each, in the past few months, receiving a salary amounting to no more than P1,500 ($31.58). Redondo is just fortunate that his wife also works, and he himself occasionally finds extra work by fishing or driving a pedicab.

Rapiñan has nothing to fall back on and is the only breadwinner in his family of four. “Napakahirap” (It is very difficult), Rapiñan said of how life is for them at the moment.

Aquino, Eguna, Redondo, and Rapiñan are just four of the thousands of workers at the CEPZ who either have lost their jobs or have been made to work for reduced working hours. The managements of their companies have all cited the global economic crisis as the reason for the retrenchments and reduction of working hours.

The CEPZ workers are not the only ones who have been made to bear the brunt of the global crisis.

Based on data gathered by the Pagkakaisa ng mga Manggagawa sa Timog Kagalugan (Pamantik or Unity of Workers in Southern Tagalog), thousands of workers have already lost their jobs in the electronics and car manufacturing sectors in the Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) area in the last four months.

Amkor Technology, Inc. laid off 3,000 of its workers last September and another 2,000 are to be retrenched this month. Integrated Microelectronics, Inc. removed 3,000 of its workers last December, and has also implemented a forced leave leading to retrenchment to 1,000 more effective for the period December 2008-May 2009.

Other companies, notably Toyota Motor Philippines and Keihin Philippines, have begun implementing compressed work months.

And these are just some of the reported cases.

Government data show that in the last two months alone, some 15,000 workers all over the country have been laid off as a result of the crisis, while 19,000 have been made to work for reduced working hours. The government estimates that anywhere from 300,000 to 800,000 more are in danger of losing their jobs this year.

In a forum a few months ago, Paul Quintos, executive director of the Ecumenical Institute for Labor Education and Research (EILER) and a London School of Economics (LSE)-trained economist, cited the export-processing zones as among the sectors particularly vulnerable to the effects of the global economic crisis.

He said the crisis could lead to a slump in the export of goods. He noted that around 18 percent of the country’s exports go directly to the US, while up to 70 percent are indirectly dependent on the US, as well as the European Union or EU markets, through the export of intermediate goods to TNC (transnational corporation) subcontractors in China, Taiwan, Korea, the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), and others for assembly into final goods.

With the US, which dominates the world economy, in a deep crisis, the effects of this crunch have spread to other countries including the Philippines – affecting the likes of Aquino, Eguna, Redondo, and Rapiñan who are now struggling to simply live through the difficult times. (Bulatlat.com)