by Ghio Ong – The Philippine Star, 18 Dec 2021
MANILA, Philippines — Charges were filed yesterday against 44 employees of a company in Valenzuela who were arrested for going on strike on Wednesday night.
Pasta producer Soft Touch Development Corp. and the city police filed charges of illegal assembly, disobedience to a person in authority and alarm and scandal against the workers, according to lawyer and labor leader Luke Espiritu.
However, inquest prosecutor Evelyn Aguilar ordered that the 44 workers – not 50 as previously reported – be released from jail pending further investigation.
“The fiscal ordered us to get a certification from the Department of Labor (and Employment) that there is a pending labor dispute,” Espiritu said.
The workers are set to appear before the city prosecutor on Dec. 22.
Espiritu, who represents the detained employees, also said that Soft Touch was “asked to consider the solution to the problem, which is to maintain status quo without the workers being threatened with mass termination.”
Espiritu and the company’s representatives attended a dialogue yesterday with Mayor Rex Gatchalian, National Conciliation and Mediation Board-National Capital Region officials, city police chief Col. Ramchrisen Haveria Jr. and the manpower agency used by Soft Touch to hire the employees.
Haveria was “under fire for excessive use of force in a labor dispute” mandated by government regulations, according to Espiritu.
A video posted by Espiritu on Twitter showed the employees, who staged the strike after being informed they would be laid off on Dec. 24, being hit by police officers with water cannons and truncheons and being dragged to a police van.
World Day for Safety and Health at Work
“Safety and health at work every day!”
Invoke Article 33 of the ILO constitution
against the military junta in Myanmar to carry out the 2021 ILO Commission of Inquiry recommendations against serious violations of Forced Labour and Freedom of Association protocols.
Accept National Unity Government
(NUG) of Myanmar.
Reject Military!
#WearMask #WashHands #Distancing #TakePicturesVideos
Monthly Observances:
March – Women’s Role in History Month
April – Month of Planet Earth
Weekly Observances:
Last Week of March: Protection and Gender Fair Treatment of the Girl Child Week
Last Week of April – World Immunization Week
Daily Observances:
Mar 25 – International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transallantic Slave Trade
Mar 27– Earth Hour
Apr 21 – Civil Service Day
Apr 22 – World Earth Day
Apr 28 – World Day for Safety and Health at Work
