Tech firm in Laguna to hire caddies displaced by lockdown
An electronics and tech support company is hiring over a hundred caddies who lost their jobs after the coronavirus pandemic shelved leisure activities and sporting events.
In Laguna province, about 150 caddies at Ayala Greenfield Golf and Leisure Club in Calamba City were offered a five-month contract to work as factory operators at Asurion LLC, an electronics supply chain company.
Asurion, with about 4,000 employees, has three sites in the Philippines. Its manufacturing plant that chiefly repairs mobile phones and other gadgets for its North American market is located in Calamba City.
Asurion director Mark Way said hiring the caddies to help the company catch up on its “backlog” incurred during the early months of the quarantine was a decision made by top managers, who were just as “thankful” that the company had kept operating despite the situation. The caddies will join the production line in June, Way said on Monday.
Buddy Resurreccion, Ayala Greenfield Golf and Leisure Club general manager, on Wednesday welcomed Asurion’s initiative as it “takes a lot of pressure off” about 270 caddies and employees furloughed by the pandemic.
He said they had raised close to P1 million as cash assistance from Asurion’s corporate social responsibility arm, Asurion Compassion Forward, and from individual pledges of the club’s more than 700 members.
A golfer himself, Way said caddies were normally “daily earners,” whose income would range from P500 to P700.
“[Caddies] make the games enjoyable [not minding whether] it’s too hot or it rained. Now, it’s our turn to give back,” Way said. Resurreccion said even as lockdowns were seen to ease in the coming weeks, tournaments would remain canceled while the clubs would only allow its members to play to curb the virus spread.
The club will also impose safety measures, like keeping safe distances between golfers and between players and their caddies.
He said golf club operations may take “about two to three months” to recover.
