(Photo grabbed from web)
LIMAY, Bataan — Some workers of Petron Bataan Refinery (PBR) here on Wednesday appealed to Ramon Ang, president of San Miguel Corp. (SMC), to hear their plight and stop the termination of highly-skilled workers.
SMC is said to be the controlling stockholder of the largest oil refinery in the country that started in the 1950s as Bataan Refining Company.
A worker said he was one of those who was served notice of termination. He said that 176 rank and file workers Develophave already been laid off since July, 2019 for reason of redundancy and other causes.
The workers who requested anonymity decried the delay in the renewal of their collective bargaining agreement and alleged union busting of the oil company.
They belong to the Bataan Refiners Union of the Philippines which has 620 members.
“Alam namin na may puso sa manggagawang Pilipino si Mr. Ang. Tiwala pa rin kami na baka hindi nakakarating sa kanya ang nangyayari sa amin sa ibaba,” the workers said.
They believe that what was happening in the plant was being filtered out and has not reached Ang.
“Nakikiusap kami, nananawagan sa kanya na mabigyan niya kami ng panahon. Kausapin niya kami, bigyan niya kami ng time para ma-explain ang side namin,” a worker said.
“Mahirap ang kalagayan namin ngayon dahil pamilya namin nakasalalay ang buhay sa trabaho namin. Matatanggal kami sa trabaho namin nang bigla-biglaan.”
They admitted that the package offered in their termination was good enough. “Pero pera lang yon, sandali lang mauubos. Paano mga pinag-aaral pa namin kung hindi kami agad makakuha ng trabaho,” the worker said.
The workers also asked government to help them, they being members of a non-radical union and have not joined any violent mass action.
They said they were mostly engineers and highly-skilled workers. They said their CBA lapsed December 31, 2018 yet and has not been renewed.
What was more disheartening for them was the termination of 176 rank and file workers since July 17, 2019 and more allegedly to be laid off.
“Dire-diretso raw ang pag-aalis hanggang maging stable ang kumpanya, nalulugi raw. Hindi kami naniniwala dahil ang gusto lang tanggalin ang union namin,” they claimed.
They said they have filed a Notice of Strike with the Department of Labor and Employment which they said was approved by almost 100 percent of the union members.
They claimed that the company has begun hiring new workers. “Hindi biro-biro ang trabaho namin. Catastrophic ang trabaho namin na pati community affected kung magkamali kami. Dalawang taong experience sa trabaho upang masabing handa ang manggagawa para sa safety concern,” a worker said.
