200 workers picket shoe factory in Muntinlupa

MANILA, Philippines - More than 200 shoe factory workers, mostly women, picketed on Friday the Bleustar Manufacturing and Marketing Corp. (BMMC), manufacturer for Advan shoes, in Muntinlupa to press the firm to recognize their union through a certification election. But management refused let them in to hold the election. The factory is in front of Wilmark 2, RMT Industrial Complex, in Tunasan. Management has allegedly been blocking the union because most of the workers are women who have experienced sexual molestation in the hands of factory owner Jimmy Ong, according to Lisa Malimata, vice auditor of Bleustar Worker's Labor Union. The union is fighting against sexual abuse in the factory. "Why won't they let us in? We've been here since nine o'clock just to cast our votes," Malimata said. According to Malimata, the union filed illegal dismissal charges at the Department of Labor and Employment's (DOLE) National Mediation and Conciliation Board after the management fired more than 50 of their workers. The also filed unfair labor and attempted runaway shop. Last week, Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) urged the DOLE, the Senate, and the House of Representatives to conduct separate investigations on alleged sexual abuses and inhuman working conditions suffered by female workers of the BMMC. After years of silence, the female workers finally revealed the verbal and physical sexual molestation the had suffered from the factory owner. In a recent investigative report done by Center for Trade Union Human Rights (CTUHR), BMMC workers narrated how Ong had been sexually harassing some of them since 1993. One of the workers, who requested anonymity, said that Ong would arrive at the workplace drunk and would call on one of his female workers, who were, at that time, aged between 17 and 22. He would allegedly start touching the worker's sensitive parts, forcibly kiss her on the lips, and ask her to sit on his lap. He would even show off his genitals. Earlier reports told that when the CTUHR asked one of the victims was asked why it took them 14 years to make this known, the workers said that they had tolerated "due to lack of choice and fear of getting dismissed." "The management does not want us to form a union, and BWLU is our fourth attempt to unionize," the victim added. "Since the management learned of our organizing, Mr. Ong's sexual advances came infrequently, though it did not stop." BMMC produces roughly 5,400 pairs of Advan-brand rain boots and 2,700 pairs of shoes every day distributed locally. Its biggest buyer is the SM chain of department stores. It employs 205 rank-and-file workers, 85 percent of whom are women, five supervisors, and less than 10 office personnel. - GMANews.TV