1,200 jobless as garments firm closes

About 1,200 regular and contractual workers of a Korean-owned garments factory in Cavite province lost their jobs after the management claimed its clients had pulled out, prompting a company shutdown.

Faremo International Inc., one of the leading garments producer inside the Cavite Export Processing Zone in Rosario town, filed a notice of permanent closure on Oct. 21 in the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

Feliciano Orihuela Jr., director of the National Conciliation and Mediation Board in Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) region, said the shutdown was supposed to take effect on Dec. 29, based on the company’s notice, but production had already stopped this week.

“[The company] said one of its major clients, [a popular clothing brand], had stopped issuing [purchase orders] so they did not have any reason to continue production,” Orihuela said in a telephone interview on Friday.

But the Faremo workers’ union doubted this claim and suspected the shutdown was meant to suppress the recently formed union.

Jessel Autida, 42, a machine operator of eight years and union president, said talks of company losses only began after the union and the management sealed its collective bargaining agreement in June.

“They did not show us any document to justify their claim that [the company] was losing income,” Autida said.

He said the company generated an average income of P70 million annually from supplying garments to global clothing brands.

Faremo, a subsidiary of the Seoul-based Hansoll Textile Ltd., opened its factory in Cavite in 2003.

Autida said it has 1,200 employees, mostly women. At least 700 of them were on regular employment.

He said the factory’s workers received a minimum daily wage of P356.50.

The Inquirer sought the company’s statement on the shutdown on Friday but Benny Baroquillo, a staff member of its human resource department, said the person tasked to answer questions was unavailable for an interview.

Asked who this company official would be, Baroquillo said she was not allowed to give any other detail to reporters.

Laid-off workers had gone on strike outside  company premises this week, as they also sought remedy by filing complaints of union-busting and illegal closure in DOLE.

Orihuela said mediation conferences are ongoing to determine whether the shutdown was made “in good faith.”