"The sudden closure of Honda Cars Phils. Inc., without informing its workers, is irresponsible, unjust and illegal,” the Metro Manila-based Center for Trade Union and Human Rights has said.
Daisy Arago, executive director of CTUHR, said in a statement, “The management and the workers through their union are bound by a collective bargaining agreement, and yet everyone was caught by surprise.
“It is the workers’ right to be informed of such drastic actions, especially as it costs them their jobs which their families have been depending on for years.”
On Saturday, a supposed normal workday for the Honda Cars Phils. manufacturing workers, the weekend became a nightmare when they were called for a general meeting wherein HCPI’s president and general manager Noriyuki Takakura appeared on a video message announcing that Honda would cease operations in the Philippines.
Before the workers could absorb the devastating news, HCPI immediately stopped its operations and other workers were refused entry to the plant’s premises, according to the CTURP statement.
Around 70 guards were reported to be watching the plant and police were subsequently assembled at the Gate 1 of the Laguna Technopark Inc.
A firetruck was also deployed near HCPI.
“This is so unfair. We didn’t have any idea that the company will be closing down. We demand that the company management to sit down with us and explain the illegal closure and what it intends to do with the workers. We have families to feed and children to send to school,” says Christopher Oliquinio, Union Vice President of Lakas Manggagawang Nagkakaisa sa Honda (LMNH-OLALIA-KMU).
LMNH-OLALIA-KMU, in its statement, noted that prior to Honda’s sudden closure, they have been conducting dialogues with the management regarding the downsizing of their production.
The management told them that it would lessen its production from 35 cars per day to 18 and that it would no longer be manufacturing the Honda City model, according to the CTURP statement.
The management even assured them that no one would lose their job, as those who would be displaced from the downsizing would be transferred to a new department.
“It is difficult to understand the claims of Honda Cars that it is closing its manufacturing operations in the Philippines, ‘to meet Honda’s customer needs in the Philippines for reasonably priced and good-quality products…’ It is putting a highest premium to customer’s satisfaction at the expense of the jobs and welfare of the very workers who labored very hard to make the costumers satisfied,” added Arago.
Honda’s closure will impact not only its 387 workers and their families, but also the workers of its 60 companies supplying parts and materials to Honda that are in the country.
Most of the HCPI workers have been serving the company for 15-20 years. Some even served them for 28 years, the statement said.
CTUHR has called on HCPI management to have a heart, face its workers, respect their rights and conduct a dialogue immediately. CTUHR also urged the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to exercise its power, intervene immediately and take appropriate measures to protect the jobs of those affected and ensure that foreign investors respect the rights of Filipino workers.
CTUHR has appealed to the public to support the illegally locked out workers.
Currently, hundreds of workers are holding vigil inside the factory, as they demand a dialogue with HCPI management. Benjamin Chavez