21 workers of Korean firm hurt as police disperse picket in Laguna

By Ronron
January 27, 2008

Twenty one incumbent and former workers of a Korean garment factory in Laguna province were hurt as police dispersed them from their picket last Friday evening in Cabuyao town, their colleague said Sunday.

Some members and sympathizers of Aniban ng Manggawang Inaapi sa Hanjin (AMIHAN), the union of Hanjin Garments employees, were holding a rally outside their factory since dawn of Thursday when an order for their dispersal came on Friday afternoon, a union official and police said.

AMIHAN Vice President Christopher Capistrano, 26, a former employee of Hanjin Garments, said in a phone interview yesterday that some 37 union members, including him, were supposed to join their 49 colleagues near the factory gate at around 6pm last Friday when some 60 policemen met them with their wooden truncheons.

“They were hitting my colleagues because they were preventing us from holding a picket near the Hanjin gate. They said the owner of the subdivision ordered them to do so because it is a private area and other factories inside are bothered by our picket rally,” Capistrano said in Filipino.

Capistrano said the group of 37 were initially positioned at the main gate of the Gatchalian Industrial Subdivision in Barangay Banay-banay, Cabuyao.

The other group of 49, meanwhile, were already situated at the gate of Hanjin itself located some 200 meters away from the subdivision gate.

Cabuyao police chief Supt. Moises Pagaduan said the group started their picket at around 4am last Thursday over their unresolved issues with the Hanjin Garment management.

Capistrano said they are raising three issues with the management of the Korean firm: first is the regularization of workers; second is the re-hiring of 200 workers whose contracts were not renewed; and third, is the application of the minimum wage of P282 for the employees.

He said that in two previous meetings with the management, the latter denied the union’s demands citing the financial incapability of the company.

“We don’t believe them because we are witness to the production and exportation of Hanjin Garments. We know the company is doing well financially. They just don’t want to give in to our demands because it would mean lesser profit for them,” Capistrano said.

Pagaduan said the subdivision owner himself, Mr. Jaime Gatchalian, sent him a letter last Friday, asking police to disperse the employees of Hanjin who are holding the picket allegedly because other firms are complaining.

But Pagaduan said he did not act on the request because he respects the rights of the union members holding the picket, who, he said, were not really violating any law and have not turned violent.

“Except for harassing fellow workers who report to work by making verbal pressures, and the noise that emanate from their chants, they are not really violating any law. So we just let them be, but we have deployed policemen there in case something happens,” the police official said.

Pagaduan denied that they dispersed the demonstrators last Friday night, more so that they hurt them.

“If we dispersed them, then they should not have been able to enter the subdivision and joined their colleagues at the Hanjin gate,” he said.

Capistrano insisted, however, that they were hit by the policemen, and that the clash lasted in fact for 20 minutes.

“We can always present to the public our colleagues who were injured. Their injuries are enough proof. We also took pictures of them and we can show it to everyone,” he said.

He said that some policemen even touched the breasts of their female colleagues during the clash.

On Saturday, their hurt colleagues went to the Ospital ng Cabuyao for medical examination but they were not able to get medical certificates because the hospital management was collecting P180 from each patient, despite an assurance allegedly to the union by the town mayor that the consultation is free.

Nonetheless, Capistrano said they will pursue harassment charges against elements of the Cabuyao police because of the incident. He said they are still finalizing where to file the complaint.

Capistrano said they voluntarily dispersed from the picket site at around 6pm Saturday as they look forward to today’s (Monday) scheduled meeting between the employees’ union and the Hanjin Garments management at the Department of Labor and Employment’s National Conciliation Mediation Board office in Calamba City.

Capistrano disclosed that of the 874 incumbent employees of Hanjin Garments, 200 are members of the employees’ union./DMS