28 June 2019

...Pepmaco workers have been on strike to assail their poor pay and dire working conditions.

Several media outfits...reported the company's failure to make them regular employees, despite working for at least 12 hours a day for the past 15 years. Apart from the poor pay they are receiving – about P373 a day – they are also reportedly deprived of mandatory benefits such as social security insurance, and on housing and health.

In an apparent effort to quell the workers' active call for the management to look into their concerns, at least 64 employees have been dismissed, including their union leaders. Among the most recent was the dismissal of another three workers early this month.

...[S]triking workers were attacked and dispersed while they were still asleep. Pepmaco Workers Union...said the company's security guards even took away personal belongings of the striking workers.

...[W]orkers...are left to work with toxic ingredients with practically bare hands. Workers have reported having skin and respiratory diseases.

...[W]orkers...are employed under a "labor only contracting" work scheme.