Laid off workers of Quezon City restaurant hold protest
Abigail Kwok
INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines – (UPDATE) Laid off workers from a restaurant in Quezon City protested outside its main office in West Avenue early Friday morning, calling for a boycott of the restaurant’s products.
Seventy-three workers from Kowloon House who were terminated last September 15, allegedly because of conducting illegal labor protests, gathered outside the restaurant’s main office as early as 7 a.m.
Edmund Navarosa, Kowloon Workers Union president, told INQUIRER.net that that the group dispersed quietly at around 1 p.m.
Navarosa said the 73 workers were laid off by Kowloon after the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) ruled that their protests last June 20 were illegal.
The NLRC decision found the 73 workers “guilty of conducting illegal strikes” and were fined P40,000 for exemplary damages. After the decision was released, the management of Kowloon House immediately terminated the employees, but not after giving them their separation pay, said Miguela Rey, accountant of the restaurant.
But Navarosa said they were laid off despite a pending motion for reconsideration by the workers’ union. He also stressed that the group was merely practicing their right to “freedom of expression,” because the management of Kowloon allegedly failed to grant them an across the board wage increase as mandated by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) under Wage Order No. 13 released last August 2007.
Wage Order No.13 gives a P12 pay increase and integrates the P50 cost of living to the basic daily pay of workers in the private sector in the National Capital Region. This has increased their minimum daily wage to P362. The wage increase applies to all minimum wage earners in the private sector in Metro Manila, regardless of position, designation or status of employment and irrespective of the method by which they were paid.
But Rey denied Navarosa’s claim, saying, “Anong hindi binigay, na-delay lang pero binigay din [What are they saying? It was given, it was delayed but it was released]. In fact, binigyan pa namin sila ng [we even gave them] back wages.”
She added that several of the employees were even paid above minimum wage, at more than P400 a day.
Navarosa acknowledged that Kowloon granted them a salary increase, but dismissed them after.
“Binigay nga nila pero tinanggal naman kami [They gave it to us but we were terminated],” he added.
The group demanded a public boycott of all products of Kowloon House; the rehiring of the 73 terminated employees; and for another round of wage increase.
“Bahala sila [It’s up to them]. Pero ang customer naman may sariling pag-iisip [But our customers have their own minds],” Rey said, reacting to boycott calls.
She added that some 20 of the 73 workers were re-hired by the company after several consultations.
