Valenzuela fire inspection to affect 12,000 workers

Closure of several business establishments that are not complying with fire safety laws in Valenzuela City will displace at least 12,000 workers, according to a labor group. 

MANILA, Philippines - At least 12,000 workers will be affected by the closure of business establishments in Valenzuela City, labor coalition Trade Union Congress of the Philippines-Nagkaisa (TUCP-Nagkaisa) said on Friday.

Alan Tanjusay, the group's national spokesperson, said that the number could balloon if Valenzuela Mayor Rex Gatchalian would continue with his plan to shut down businesses that failed to comply with fire safety requirements.

"Rather than immediate closure, we suggest that erring and non-compliant companies should be given at least 10 days to correct themselves. Unless, Mayor Gatchalian does have immediate alternative plans to provide jobs to those thousands of workers who might be affected by his closure plan and prevent a massive problem, we recommend that he be rational at this time," Tanjusay said.

He said Gatchalian should devote local government resources to enforcing existing fire safety laws and ensure labor standards are being faithfully observed by companies within the city.

Tanjusay said labor coalition Nagkaisa have forged an agreement with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to inspect and assess all factories in Valenzuela.

He said Nagkaisa, with TUCP as one of the 49 convenors, will make comprehensive recommendations in reforming the enforcement and compliance to the Labor Law Compliance System being implemented by DOLE.

The launching of the joint inspection will be announced later.

The city government has intensified its inspection on business establishments after the May 13 fire that razed a slippers factory, killing 72 persons. - By Dennis Carcamo (philstar.com)

Kentex inquiry by House Committee on Labor and Employment chaired by Cong. K. Nograles as attended by Nagkaisa! members

Nagkaisa coalition held a rally to condemn Kentex management poor labor standards that resulted to factory fire killling 72 workers

KIlusan Pres Arthur Juego spearheads spray painting of Kentex factory

NAGKAISA labor coalition calls on creation of a tripartite labor laws compliance inspection task force

PNOY, nga-nga sa mga manggagawang biktima ng sunog - Ensure health and safety of workers

The lives and the scathing injury of KENTEX workers are the heavy price for the complete breakdown of government’s labor laws enforcement and for the employers’ patent disregard to the mandatory laws on wages, social protection benefits and the statutory basic workplace safety guidelines.

The KENTEX factory workers’ deaths depict the abominable culture of indifference among many public servants and profit-oriented employers to enforce existing guidelines that uphold workers’ basic rights and well-being.

Therefore, we, the undersigned convenors of the NAGKAISA Labor Coalition, collectively call on Labor Secretary Baldoz to establish a tripartite "Task Force Valenzuela" (TFV) to undertake a surprise sweep and unannounced inspection of factories and plants in the City of Valenzuela to crack down on sweatshops.

In the light of the tragedy that befell our fellow workers in KENTEX, we believe that it now becomes imperative to verify employer compliance with all existing labor laws and safety standards, fire and building structure standards and to determine compliance with all other city requirements for the issuance of business permits and operational licenses.

Justice must now not just be for the KENTEX dead and their families but also for the countless workers nationwide who labor under the same pakyawan system or through unregistered and unregulated labor manning agencies, to be deployed without any statutory benefits, least of all minimum wages, into firetraps where their lives are sacrificed on the altar of profits. Disposable lives and in the case of the KENTEX workers, thrown away.

We strongly believe that the immoral and illegal activities of the KENTEX owners are actually widespread in Valenzuela, and the inspections should begin in the very factory neighborhood where the fire occurred and with those firms also serviced by the unregistered manning agency. The inspections should also cover those firms that undertook voluntary self-assessments of their labor standard compliance. It is never the best way to enforce labor or safety standards by relying on the mere "say-so" of a very self-interested employer and factory owner.

This proposed crackdown in Valenzuela will have national resonance and will hopefully, by making an example of those who will be caught, ensure that labor standard compliance will be honored more in the practice, rather than in its breach.

We urge the DOLE to seize the historical opportunity to render justice not just for the KENTEX workers but to finally break the widespread culture and practice of corporate irresponsibility that made the loss of the workers lives not just immoral but evil and criminal.