About 30 percent of garments workers are forced to go on a furlough until the end of the year on weak demand because of the pandemic, an industry group said Tuesday.
Maritess Agoncillo, executive-director of the Confederation of Wearable Exporters of the Philippines, said garments factories were operating at marked downtime to comply with the safety protocols against COVID-19.
“We are trying our best to maintain status quo within the work force. Since capacity for third quarter is projected to be down at 40 percent, we expect around 20 percent to 30 percent of regular workers may be on furlough until end-year,” she said.
Agoncillo said to cope with sluggish demand, several factories repurposed their operations to produce medical-grade personal protective equipment in response to the government’s request to locally produce the PPEs and save jobs.
She said other factories adopted rotational work basis, allowing workers to report to work for at least two weeks. “It may not be enough, but at least a worker earns half of the base salary within a month,” Agoncillo said.
She said of the factories still operating, most were at 40 percent to 50 percent of their capacity.
Agoncillo said the group was finalizing its report on the costs of operating in the “new normal” and its impact on operations and profitability.
She said factories that agreed to repurpose their operations had to compete with imports. “We need to level the playing field to support the growth of the PPE sub sector,” she said.
The repurposing program attracted $35 million in investments and saved 7,450 jobs amid the weakening of the global economy, she said.
