The Labor Coalition Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) on Tuesday said American-based Research Now SSI company must be held liable for the death of its 37 employees who were killed in the New City Commercial Center (NCCC) mall fire in Davao City on Saturday.
The group slammed the firm’s failure to comply with the labor inspection standards for a safe workplace that could have spared its employees from harm if it had been followed.
“If they (Research Now SSI) could have complied with the labor inspection standards on the fire exits, sprinkler system, ventilation, lighting, noise, entry and egress specifications, and fire evacuation plan, possible harm could have been avoided,” ALU-TUCP spokesman Alan Tanjusay in a statement.
“By wanting to save cost, their employees’ lives were paid for the heavy price of saving cost,” Tanjusay added.
The SSI earlier vowed to provide assistance to those who were affected. The firm said that they have arranged for counseling for its employees. In addition, it is helping to support funeral arrangements, and will create a fund for contributions to provide further assistance to the families of those who were lost.
ALU-TUCP also called the attention of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to conduct strong inspections in workplaces.
“Inspection must now be strong. Meaning, violation of labor general and occupational safety and health standards at first instance must be treated with strong and harsh punishment,” Tanjusay said.
“If we don’t do this now, many more workers will be made to sacrifice in the name of improving (the) margin of profit and cost-cutting,” Tanjusay said.
The group also urged DOLE to remove call centers from malls, saying it should have its own, separate, and independent buildings.
“Call centers as working areas must be removed from malls. Call centers should have their own separate and independent building designed for human beings working on 24-hour work operations,” Tanjusay said.
“Call center employees are not commodities and goods that can be consigned to a warehouse converted as work area” he said.
One comment on “Labor Coalition: U.S. firm must be held liable for deadly Davao mall fire”
Comments are closed.