Holcim closes Misamis Oriental facility without cutting jobs

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine unit of Swiss cement maker Holcim has temporarily suspended local operations as its parent cut 3,300 jobs, mostly based in the United States. The temporarily closure was the first locally in two years. The company temporarily shuttered one of its two plants in Misamis Oriental, a move considered as an “economic shutdown," Holcim Philippines’ chief operating officer Ian Stuart Thackwray said. Although the Holcim-Lugait facility was temporarily shut down as early as July last year, the company has managed to preserve jobs of workers by moving them to other positions in the same province. “Our commitment, as a company, is, whenever possible, we're going to preserve employment. We recognize the effect that retrenchment has on employees, their families and their communities and will always resist doing this. None of the people in Lugait line one lost their jobs," Thackwray said. Besides shuttering 24 plants, the company has also let go of 600 workers in Spain. It plans to shutter 67 facilities in the US. Job cuts reached 280 in Thailand. Plant closure resulted from lower demand and not from the financial crisis that affected the US, Thailand, Spain, and other world cities. “The reason is the fall in domestic demand for cement, which predates the financial crisis and was primarily driven by a slowdown in government infrastructure spending," Thackwray said. “The effect of the financial crisis has been to further reduce domestic cement demand growth because of the difficulty of funding new private construction projects. The facility could be brought back online immediately if “domestic cement demand were to increase," he said. - GMANews.TV