August 6 — Contractual workers of grocery warehouse chain, Super 8 in Pasig City goes on strike after the termination of around 200 contractual workers on Monday.
“The Matapat Service Cooperative, the agency of Super 8 company, reportedly gathered all the workers in its head office in Muñoz, Quezon City to announce their termination due to the agency’s claim that it failed to acquire the service contract in the bidding process,”said in a statement released by Defend Job Philippines.
The workers were offered by the agency to sign termination papers in exchange for their half month salaries and were prohibited to go out of the office until they have signed the said documents.
Collective bargaining
Lorendo Domingo, 48, and a worker at Super 8 Axis for 13 years, shares why they went on strike.
“Kaya naman po kami nagbuo ng samahan dahil gusto sana namin manawagan dahil yung mismong may-ari ng Super 8, noon pa man ay hindi kami hinaharap dito noong hindi pa nangyari yung gantong pagrarally. Kaya po kami nanawagan sa may-ari ng Super 8 dahil hindi po kami binabayaran ng tama. Nag-oovertime po kami ng anim, limang oras. Tapos yung mga SSS po naming hindi nahuhulugan, kagaya po sa akin na ngayon lang inayos. Meron po akong apat na taon na hindi pa niya binabayaran yung loan ko kaya nagkaroon po ng interest at penalty.
Tapos meron din po kasi na tinatawag na salary adjustment na tinatanggal, tinatanong namin kung ano itong salary adjustment ang sabi lang po ng Matapat Service Cooperatives ay meron silang mga sobrang pasahod nitong mga nakaraang buwan. Yung ginawa namin ay nanghingi kami sana ng mga timecards para pagtugmain namin, pero ayaw nila ibigay,” said Domingo.
[“We formed an association because we want to assert our rights to the management of Super 8 who did not even dare face us until this strike happened. We are asserting our rights to Super 8 because they do not pay us enough wage. We do overtime work for five to six hours. Our SSS are not taken care of by the management, like in my case. I have a four year’s worth of loan that incurred interest and penalty. Then there’s also this salary adjustment that is removed from our wages. We asked what this salary adjustment is and Matapat Service Cooperatives just said that they have added pay that they need to get back these past few months. We asked for timecards to see if this is true, but they do not want to give these to us,” said Domingo.]
The workers also visited the Pasig mayor’s office Vico Sotto to seek help from the local government to support the striking voters. The workers also call on the public to express support to their strike in whatever form they can.
Lastly, the workers have amessage for Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and theSuper 8 management.
“Panawagan po namin sa Super8 at sa DOLE ay sana po pabalikin na po kami sa trabaho. Sa Super8 po ay kilalanin na po kami bilang mga regular sa Super8 na aming pinagtrabahuan at bayaran ang mga dapat bayaran na mga benepisyo kagaya ng mga SSS, PhilHealth at yung mga araw na hindi kami pinapapasok. [Para] sa DOLE ay sana po ay maaga niya po kaming matugununan at maagang desisyon na pabalikin kami sa trabaho at i-regular.” Domingoended.
[“We call on the Super 8 management and DOLE to let us return to work. The management should recognize us as regular workers in Super 8. They need to compensate our benefits in SSS, PhilHealth, and the days we weren’t called in to work. We hope that the DOLE should heed our calls and decide to let us back to work and treat us as regulars.” Domingo ended.]
