Hontiveros wants gov't action on retrenchment of 500 Dole Philippines workers

The Labor Department should look into the mass retrenchment of nearly 500 regular workers of canned pineapple producer and exporter Dole Philippines Inc. (Dolefil) earlier this year, Senator Risa Hontiveros said on Friday.

In her letter to Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III dated November 20, Hontiveros said the company did not suffer from imminent losses in previous years to legally justify the layoffs amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The senator pointed out that the Annual Audited Financial Statement of Dolefil was contrary to the claim of the company that its finances are in a mire when it issued the notification for termination of its employees in September.

She also questioned why such notice was filed on September 18, three days after the actual termination of the workers.

Hontiveros believes that the mass layoff of workers was done in "bad faith" as it appears that those who have regular employment status had been terminated first instead of the contractuals.

“Nakakaalarma rin na sa kabila ng pagreregular nila sa nasa 5,000 employees noong 2018 bilang suporta sa kampanya ng gobyerno laban sa endo, nagpatuloy pa rin silang mag-hire ng contractual workers. This clearly belied the basis given for the retrenchment of its regular workers,” she said in a statement.

Hontiveros urged Bello to mediate between the retrenched workers and Dolefil to check if the layoffs were compliant with labor laws and to help them "arrive at a pragmatic, mutually-acceptable solution to what might turn out to be a serious labor dispute."

"Ngayong maraming negosyo ang naapektuhan ng economic recession, huwag nating hayaang masangkalan ang kapakanan ng mga manggagawa. At the end of the day, workers’ welfare and rights should come first. They should always be our top priority," she said.

GMA News Online reached out to Dolefil through their official social media page but has yet to receive a response as of writing.—AOL, GMA News