MANILA, Philippines—Workers of a Cebu-based furniture company that filed for a temporary shutdown are pressing the Department of Labor and Employment to order the company -- Giardini del Sole -- to let them go back to work.

In the meantime, the workers are demanding payment of P5,000 and a sack of rice monthly for each of them while the factory remains closed.

Around 300 workers of the furniture firm picketed the Cebu factory ahead of negotiations between the workers and the management under the eye of the National Conciliation and Mediation Board on Tuesday, according to a statement e-mailed to media in Manila by the workers’ union.

The furniture exporting firm was one of the companies in Cebu export zones to close their factory for the time being because of the drop in overseas demand.

In his e-mailed statement, Eulito Fin, vice president of Nagkahiusang Puwersa nga Mamumuo sa Giardini (NPMG) questioned Giardini's temporary closure after it allowed 50 workers to work recently. The union, Fin said, suspected that the company used the global financial crisis to remove union workers.

The company, he said, suspended several union officers last November, after temporarily closing shop.

"If the negotiations fail then we will push through with filing a notice of strike on the basis of union busting," he said.

The workers also said the so-called temporary shutdown was illegal since they did not receive any notice to that effect.

"Workers will only agree to a temporary shutdown after the lapse of the required 30 days notice and upon opening of the company books to prove its claim of losses or lack of demand. And while temporarily shut down, management must provide a subsidy with counterpart assistance from the local government and national agencies so that workers will not die of hunger," said Fin.

The union is asking the company to provide P5,000 and a sack of rice to each worker every month for the entire time the company is closed.