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TRIUMPH MANAGEMENT
TRIED BREAKING BRA-MAKERS' PICKET, FAILED
Press Release
02 February 2000
It would have been an early-morning clash between the striking bra-makers and Triumph's demolition force had the management pushed further to break the workers' barricade at the Company's main gate.
Escorted by security guards and hired goons, Triumph's managers and staff tried to enter the premises in preparation for their expected resumption of the Company's full operation starting next week. As the management's group walked close to the main gate, around three hundred striking workers, mostly women, formed a long and thick human chain in order to defend their picket and block the entrances. Face to face, a short collision occurred and tension started to boil. But with the management pulling out from the scene, the situation became controllable.
According to Ms. Reyvilosa Trinidad, 2nd Vice-President of the Bagong Pagkakaisa ng mga Manggagawa sa Triumph International, "Triumph Management is determined to demolish our strong and peaceful picketline all the more because of the comfort it receives from the Department of Labor that issued the Assumption of Jurisdiction last January 30, 2000.
She added, "they retreated because they knew that our rank is prepared. But their retreat this morning is only temporary considering the "war freak" spirit of the management. Mr. Escueta (General Manager), Mr. Funtilla (Personnel Manager), and Mr. Vinuya (Production Manager) are known "sputniks" even among the workers of the other companies that htey served before. There is no doubt that this gang will comeback with more gangsters and hoodlums anytime of the day or the week."
With the Assumption of Jurisdiction, the Company formally filed yesterday at the Labor Department its position to comply with the order, along it notice to partially operate starting today and resume full operation by February 8, 2000. The union, on the other hand, registered its strong defiance against the "back-to-work-order."
Ms. Trinidad said, "AJ or the back-to-work-order is not the solution. This is nothing but another istrument to force us to accept their inhuman CBA offer. It is but a clear connivance between DOLE and the Management. DOLE did not even bother lifting a finger on the issue of our unpaid November wage and other 1999 benefits like the 13th month bonus which, in the first place, we already labored for. What more on the worse and long-standing issue of our CBA?"
BPMTI went on strike last November 18, 1999 after reaching a deadlock on CBA negotiation. The union demands for a P140.00 total wage increase over the next three years with increase on other economic benefits, while the Company offered a CBA package of P45 wage increase without any additional on the current benefits.###
