Employees want to leave

They weren’t surprised by the bad news. In fact, the employees of Ford Motor Co. Philippines’ assembly plant in Sta. Rosa, Laguna saw it coming.

“We had assumed it would happen; it’s really about competition,” a technician for the plant said, requesting anonymity.

Ford has decided to shut down its operations in Laguna by December, citing the country’s small market for its automative assemblies and the global phaseout of Ford’s Escape SUV, the remaining model assembled in the Philippines. Some 300 employees will be affected.

“Of course it’s a shame, but there’s nothing we could do,” a welder said.

Employees are looking forward to their separation packages from Ford, which many said they would use to process their applications for work abroad. Many of the employees would rather work overseas than stay in the country because they believe it would be difficult for local companies to match their salaries from the American car maker.

“They give high salaries and the benefits are good. Compared with others, I would still prefer Ford,” Edilberto Rongavilla, 73, a retired employee said.
“We are actually thankful. We learned a lot of things that we can use if we will work abroad,” the technician said.
The welder added “the experience we got is enough for us to be able to compete in another country.”

Ford Group Philippines AVP for Communications Anika Salceda-Wycoco said separation packages are being drawn up for the employees to be retrenched.

The package includes training sessions for employees on career transition, financial management and entrepre-neurship and an outplacement program, which includes counseling and coaching sessions to help facilitate career transitions,” Wycoco revealed.

She said Ford may absorb some of its employees from the Philippines in its other offices overseas. Currently, 20 of their Filipino employees are working abroad, most of them at Ford’s manufacturing plant in Thailand.
“We are looking at opportunities for some of our highly skilled manufacturing employees to work in some of our other manufacturing operations in markets such as India, Thailand and China,” Wycoco sdisclosed.

Meanwhie, the Aquino administration has formed a quick response team tol assist the affected employees.
Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the team will be composed of representatives from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda).

“They have been in touch with the human resources division of Ford Philippines,” Lacierda stated.

He added that the team would ensure that in the event that the notice of closure has been filed with the DoLE, full separation benefits would be provided to the employees.

“If they wish to look for another industry that would require retraining of skills, Tesda will be there to provide the retraining,” Lacierda explained.

If other employees want to use their separation benefits in setting up a business, they could ask help from the DTI, he said. –Efren B. Chavez, Daily Tribune