3 hurt in dispersal of Tanduay picket

SAN PEDRO CITY, Philippines—A Department of Labor and Employment order to regularize 103 contractual workers of the Tanduay Distillery Inc. has not been implemented, forcing most of the workers who went on strike to find other jobs.

But a handful of them, especially the officers of the labor association Tanggulan Ugnayan Daluyang Lakas ng Anakpawis sa Tanduay Distillery Inc. (Tudla), remained on the picket line in front of Asia Brewery’s Gate II in Barangay (village) Sala, Cabuyao City.

Tanduay is located inside Asia Brewery, although the two are separate companies.

A lull followed the series of violent dispersals in June, with the remaining protesters manning their “kubols” (tent). But that was only until Tuesday, when the company deployed its security personnel to demolish what was left of the picket line.

“There were about 50 of them (security) armed with shields and truncheons. They came around 12:30 a.m. and forced us away,” said Tudla vice president Dante Ragasa in a phone interview.

He said there were only 10 of workers at the picket line that time, five of whom were asleep.

“We tried to stop the guards but they were too many,” Ragasa said. He said the “dispersal” lasted 10 minutes and left three of them hurt.

In an e-mailed statement, Tudla said their members had left a generator set, an amplifier, a sack of rice, the workers’ personal stuff and cooking tools on the picket line when the workers ran away.

“We, too, were surprised because (the picket) had been peaceful already for some time now,” said Cabuyao police chief Supt. Joseph Bayan in a separate phone interview.

Quoting the head of the company’s security force, Bayan said the guards only wanted to open the company’s gate but the workers began pelting rocks at them.

Bayan said the workers were outnumbered.

But Ragasa questioned why the dispersal had to be done at midnight, when most of them were asleep.

Tudla, which serves as the association of the contractual employees at Tanduay, went on strike on May 18 to call for the regularization of 150 production operators and quality inspectors.

On June 23, the DOLE in Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) ordered the company to regularize 103 workers and called the attention of Tanduay and the two service contractors, GlobalPro and HD Manpower Service Corp., to a number of labor violations.

The violations included the non-provision of a trained first-aider, non-payment of service incentive leave, and the unauthorized deduction of medicines from the workers’ salaries.

The company had appealed the order of the regional office before the Office of the Labor Secretary.

“There are only a few of us left (on the picket line). The others started looking for other jobs to survive,” said Anse Are, president of Tudla.

He said Tuesday’s incident was referred to the DOLE regional office.