{"id":246030,"date":"2020-02-25T01:25:48","date_gmt":"2020-02-25T06:25:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=246030"},"modified":"2020-02-25T01:25:48","modified_gmt":"2020-02-25T06:25:48","slug":"dole-ready-to-assist-honda-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/02\/25\/dole-ready-to-assist-honda-workers\/","title":{"rendered":"DOLE ready to assist Honda workers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
DOLE Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the government will help the affected workers through the Tulong Pangkabuhayan sa Ating Displaced\/Disadvantaged Workers (TUPAD). (PIA file photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on Monday said it is ready to provide assistance to some 400 workers to be affected by the impending closure of Honda Cars Philippines Inc. (HCPI) plant in Laguna.<\/p>\n

DOLE Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the government will help the affected workers through the Tulong Pangkabuhayan sa Ating Displaced\/Disadvantaged Workers (TUPAD).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe could consider extending to them our usual TUPAD which is the emergency employment program. That\u2019s the livelihood program that we could extend to them,\u201d Bello told the media after meeting with the Honda officials.<\/p>\n

Bello said the government could also provide them with financial assistance to start a business.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen they go to coffee or bamboo. Maganda yung prospect sa bamboo agricultural business is very bright. Pero siyempre nakafocus sila sa kanilang trabaho (Bamboo agricultural business is very bright. But of course, they are focused on their job,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The HCPI management, Bello said, has offered the workers good benefits, but failed to divulge further details.<\/p>\n

\u201cMay mga<\/em>\u00a0benefits\u00a0sila<\/em>\u00a0(They have benefits) but I am not at liberty to mention the benefits offered.\u00a0May maganda naman silang<\/em>\u00a0offer (They have good offer). I don’t know if this will…the workers to accept,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Bello said he asked Honda to give the workers with additional benefits.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do not know if they will accept or allow the benefits\u00a0na hinihingi ko<\/em>\u00a0(that I requested). Let us wait,\u201d Bello said.<\/p>\n

He said the HCPI officials confirmed to him that \u2018tight global competition\u201d prompted Honda to close its manufacturing plant in the Philippines.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was the statement of their sales manager who happens to be a lawyer and he said the issue of the closure is non-negotiable\u00a0dahil hindi \u2018yung<\/em>\u00a0Honda Philippines\u00a0ang nag-<\/em>decide (because it\u2019s not the HCPI that made the decision), it was Honda Japan,\u201d Bello told reporters.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou cannot stop them from making the decision. We don’t know the reason for the haste of the notice of closure.\u00a0meron silang strategy siguro<\/em>…we don’t know\u00a0yung<\/em>\u00a0purpose (perhaps that\u2019s their strategy. we don\u2019t know the purpose),\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Bello said both the DOLE and the employees have not received the notice of closure.<\/p>\n

\u201cGanoon din sabi nila pinadala na sa amin yung<\/em>\u00a0notice of closure pero\u00a0wala pa naman kaming natatanggap<\/em>\u00a0(That\u2019s what they told us also that they sent the notice of closure but we have not received it yet). So the one month period will start from the time that we receive the notice,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Unjust and illegal<\/strong><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR), said the sudden HCPI closure without allegedly informing its workers is irresponsible, unjust and illegal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe management and the workers thru their union are bound by a collective bargaining agreement (CBA), and yet everyone was caught by surprise. It is the workers\u2019 right to be informed of such drastic actions, especially as it costs them their jobs which their families have been depending on for years,\u201d said CTUHR executive director Daisy Arago in a statement.<\/p>\n

Arago said HCPI\u2019s President and General Manager Noriyuki Takakura appeared on a video message to announce that Honda will cease operations in the Philippines.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore the workers could absorb the devastating news, HCPI immediately stopped its operations and other workers were refused entry to the plant\u2019s premises,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The group said Honda\u2019s closure will greatly affect its 387 workers, most of them have been serving the company for 15-20 years. Some even served for 28 years.<\/p>\n

The CTUHR called on HCPI management to respect their workers’ rights and conduct a dialogue immediately.<\/p>\n

It also urged the DOLE to intervene and take appropriate measures to ensure that foreign investors respect the rights of Filipino workers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on Monday said it is ready to provide assistance to some 400 …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":238122,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-246030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-ferdinand-patinio","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246030"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246030\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":246031,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246030\/revisions\/246031"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}