Semiconductor workers end strike after securing commitment for wage hike | ABS-CBN

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Semiconductor workers end strike after securing commitment for wage hike

Semiconductor workers end strike after securing commitment for wage hike

ABS-CBN News

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Updated Mar 09, 2025 04:27 PM PHT

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This photo posted by labor center Pamantik Kilusang Mayo Uno on Mar.8, 2025 shows workers and their supporters at the end of the strike. Pamantik KMU Facebook pageThis photo posted by labor center Pamantik Kilusang Mayo Uno on Mar.8, 2025 shows workers and their supporters at the end of the strike. Pamantik KMU Facebook page

MANILA — Workers at a semiconductor company in Cabuyao, Laguna ended their strike on Saturday after securing concessions from management, including an increase in their daily wages that will be implement over three years.

The workers’ union at Nexperia Philippines Inc. agreed to end the strike after 74 hours, saying management had agreed to reinstate two union officers, including its president, who had been dismissed in December while negotiations for a Collective Bargaining Agreement were ongoing.

The company has also agreed to an increase in the daily wage beyond the P50 that the union was pushing for, they said. Management has also guaranteed that there will be no retaliation against workers who joined the strike.

“Sa apat na araw na napatigil namin ang produskyon, pinakita namin gaano kami ka-skilled, ka-talento sa paglikha ng produkto,” Rowena Matienza, vice chair of Nexperia Philippines Inc. Workers’ Union, said in a speech streamed from the picket line by alternative news outlet Pinoy Weekly.

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(In the four days that we stopped production, we have shown how skilled and talented we are in creating their products.)

The strike, which began last Wednesday, was launched after a series of conferences with management and the Department of Labor and Employment as well as layoffs that affected four union officers, including its president, Mary Ann Castillo.

Matienza said the union would continue to negotiate for the reinstatement of the two other union officers.

Allied unions and supporters of the striking workers had tried to bring in food, water and medicine for them but these were blocked by company security and by the police.

That meant the workers had no access to essential supplies after management cut off access to water and shut off air conditioning in the compound in response to the strike.

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'LARGEST IN DECADES'

National Federation of Labor Unions KMU, of which the Nexperia union is a member, said the strike was the largest in the Philippines in several decades.

"Sa ating matibay na pagkakaisa, naiguhit natin ang linya ng pagkakaiba sa pagitan ng pagkaalipin sa kapital at pagiging mga taong may dangal," it said in a statement after the strike ended.

(With our strong unity, we have drawn a line between being slaves of capital and being people with dignity.)

"Binigo ng mga manggagawa ang kautusang [Assumption of Jurisdiction] ng [Department of Labor and Employment]. Binasag ang patakarang 'no strike' sa loob ng engklabong industriyal," it also said.

(The workers frustrated the Assumption of Jurisdiction order of DOLE. They shattered the 'no strike' policy in industrial parks)

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The office of Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma assumed jurisdiction of the labor dispute, a power allowed by law for disputes in industries "indispensable to the national interest", on February 5 and had “enjoined” the parties to refrain from “any concerted action that may further exacerbate the situation while it tries to find “a solution mutually acceptable to the parties.”

No settlement was reached after several conferences and another one on March 6, a day after the strike began, DOLE said Friday as it ordered Nexperia workers to “immediately return to work” and for the company to resume operations and “readmit workers under the same terms and conditions prevailing before the strike.”

The labor department has also called the parties to a conference on Monday, March 10, to again try to reach a settlement.

LAW GUARANTEES UNION RIGHTS

The Labor Code reiterates state policy to "assure the rights of workers to self-organization, collective bargaining, security of tenure and just and humane conditions of work."

Human Rights Watch, in a report released last September, said that despite that guarantee, union leaders and members had been harassed and threatened "to withdraw from unions and [for] individual unions to end their affiliations with labor federations critical of the government."

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HRW said then that attempts to link unions to communist rebels as well as related "harassment and threats, and at times violence, over months and years take a toll on union leaders, activists, and their families."

It also said "trade partners of the Philippines should advocate protecting labor rights in the Philippines."

The Center for Trade Union and Human Rights, which has also documented similar incidents, said last week that "the Nexperia workers’ strike is a litmus test for the government in upholding labor and human rights." — Jonathan de Santos, ABS-CBN News

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