Workers Union Wins ULP Case Against Japanese Company
Rosario, Cavite – The Pagkakaisa ng Manggagawa sa Philippine
Denrai (PMPD) – Independent represented by its 16 union officials and members won
the consolidated complaint for unfair labor practice, illegal closure and
illegal dismissal against the Philippine Denrai, Inc. (PDI) now known as Kyoto Global
Exterior Inc. (KGEI) that it filed before the National Labor Relations
Commission Regional Arbitration Branch IVA (NLRC RAB-IVA) in Calamba City,
Laguna on 2012.
In the decision of Labor Arbiter Edgar Bisana, he ordered
respondent company PDI/KGEI to jointly pay the complainants their full
backwages, separation pay of one month per year of service less the amount if
they received any, moral damages and exemplary damages for being dismissed with
malice and fraud and attorney’s fees for a total of more than P5.6M due to
unfair labor practice (ULP).
Company Sale,
Fraudulent
Arbiter Bisana in the discussion of his decision noted that
PDI and KGEI through its counsel was very cautious and conscious in not
revealing the real and exact cause of their business closure except that there
was a PDI board resolution approving the sale of the company to KGEI.
But the said board resolution also did not mention the real reason
behind the abrupt sale aside from being the prerogative of the company owner.
The arbiter also pointed out KGEI’s non interest in the
complaint filed against it being the third party in the case by letting PDI’s
counsel and officer to represent it in the case.
The arbiter also said that a co-mingling of interest between
PDI and KGEI existed. He later added that there was no bona fide sale and the
sale was simulated. Thus, Arbiter Bisana resolved that PDI and KGEI as one and
the same company.
Union Busting
PDI workers established their union PMPD with legal support
from the Workers Assistance Center (WAC) on
January 2012 and gained independent registration on February 15, 2012. The
union has 59 members out of the 80 regular rank-and-file employees.
The workers who initiated the union formation were known
leaders of the Labor-Management Council (LMC). Their decision to form their
union came from the fact that the LMC’s existence was worthless to make their
working condition better. According to the workers, they were tired of
repeatedly listening to unfulfilled promises of the management during LMC
meetings. Proof was that senior employees who were already 7-13 years in the
company but still receive minimum wage just like a newly-hired employee.
PDI/KGEI also did not pay its employees of the 30 minutes
before the scheduled time-in that it required the employees to come; otherwise
employees will be dealt with disciplinary action.
After the management learned that a union was established in
the company, it started its actions to discredit the union and discourage the
workers from supporting the union.
The then-PDI management organized various meetings and
general assembly, with the presence of different government officials to
ultimately intimidate workers from their union activities.
Respondent company also organized a seminar on how to have a
positive work attitude in order to work ‘harmoniously’ with the management
sometime in April 2012 when PMPD filed for its Petition for Certification
Election (PCE).
When all efforts to intimidate the unionists and the
possible scenario of losing in the upcoming certification election, the
management announced a Voluntary Separation Program (VSP) in a general assembly
and offered a 100% separation pay which mainly targeted the union officers in
early June 2012. The management added at that time that employees should avail
of the said offer while the management can still provide since the management
already had incurred huge losses and might cease operation soon.
Later on the same month, the management met all department
leaders through Willie Tolentino and another manager Ricky Manansala and showed
an unaudited financial report that revealed PDI’s losses and diminishing
purchase orders from May to June. The managers said that the company was in a
very fragile financial position that it may soon cease operations. Tolentino,
before the meeting ended, asked the union officers if they would still push
with the election and later collective bargaining given the ‘dire situation’ of
the company which the union officers later affirmed.
On July 16, 2012, the management called for another general
assembly and announced that the company is closing down due to severe and urgent
business exigencies. With the presence of representatives from the Department
of Labor and Employment - Cavite (DOLE-Cavite), Philippine Economic Zone
Authority (PEZA), and Office of the Provincial Governor (OPG), the management
forced the employees to get their respective checks as payment for their
separation pay computed as one (1) month per year of service because the
company will cease to operate on that day and they might not get their
paychecks at all.
The events that transpired according to Arbiter Bisana, “…
there was an orchestrated effort on the part of the respondents to condition
the mind of the complainants that the company is losing…” He also stated that
PDI/KGEI financial statement was merely a scrap of paper because it was not
signed by an official representative of the company nor an independent
accountant.
The arbiter later added that the PDI lied to the employees
that the business closure was due to financial losses while in fact a ‘sale’ to
KGEI. “If indeed, there were business reverses, how come all the complainants
were paid their separation pay in one day on July 16, 2012, when it also
announced its closure giving complainants no alternative to receive their
separation pay with regret,” the arbiter added.
Thus, Arbiter Bisana also made it clear in his decision that
the PDI/KGEI bogus sale was for the sole reason to thwart the workers right to
freedom of association and collective bargaining since the National
Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) in Imus City had already ordered a
certification election, “… the law is very explicit that the sale must be bona
fide and not one that will interfere in the right of the complainants to
self-organization to demand better terms and conditions of employment.”
Authorities in Cahoots
with Management
Arbiter Bisana also stated another reason that PDI/KGEI is
liable for unfair labor practice. It was the fact that the respondent companies
did not refute the unionists’ statements about the OPG’s men lecture regarding
the negative effects of union formation.
In Arbiter Bisana’s words, “plainly, the governor’s men were
in cahoots with respondent PDI when the latter invited them to dissuade
complainants from forming a union.”
Detailing PDI’s anti-union moves after it learned of the employees’
unionization, it was on March 2012 that the PDI management called for a meeting.
It was attended by two (2) representatives from the OPG who told the workers
that the union formation will do more harm than good and may result in the
company closing down.
Also present in the said meeting along with the OPG’s men
was Mr. Allan Datahan, the Industrial Relations Division (IRD) Officer of PEZA in
the Cavite Economic Zone (CEZ). They were introduced by the management as
special guests.
On the other hand, on April 2012, no less than the Cavite
Governor Jonvic Remulla visited PDI for the first time. The governor told the
employees that labor-management problems can be best solved if parties
sincerely talk to each other, without mentioning the right of the workers to
freedom of association. The visit was construed by the unionized workers as a
clear support of the governor to the management’s effort to weed out the union,
which eventually intimidated them.
Also puzzling for Arbiter Bisana was the dismissal of the
PCE of PMPD in the DOLE Regional IVA Office in Calamba, Laguna on the day when
PDI announced the ‘shutdown’ and paid the workers of their respective separation
pay.
According to WAC, the victory of ULP case against the
PDI/KGEI is a very welcome decision in the light of succeeding cases of union
busting involving companies inside the economic zones of Cavite, the recent
ones being the ITO Parts Philippines Mfg. Corp. and C & F Mfg. Phils. Corp.
All of these firms have the same pattern of union busting and involvement of
DOLE and PEZA officials.
PDI now known as KGEI is a 99.98% Japanese-owned company
operating in CEZ since March 1999. It manufactures gates, garden sets,
fountains; decorative rocks and similar or related products made of fiberglass
reinforced plastics and / or aluminum casting exported to Japan.
The head office of PDI’s mother company Denrai Kohbo Co.,
Ltd., can be found in Kyoto, Japan. Denrai Kohbo in its website (www.denraikohbo.jp) lists KGEI as its only
subsidiary in the Philippines and declared sales of ¥1.2B in November
2006-October 2007.
PDI/KGEI can still appeal the decision of NLRC RAB-IVA
before the national office of NLRC in Quezon City.
In : News
Tags: cez union busting ulp wac
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