Version imprimableOn January 6, 2025, the Holcim Philippines Incorporated Lugait plant member of the French LaFargeHolcim Group imposed a lockout depriving regular workers and members and officers of the sixty-three (63) supervisory and seventy-nine (79) rank and file unions of the said cement factory in Lugait, Misamis Oriental in Northern Mindanao, Philippines. Holcim Philippines Incorporated (HPI) has four (4) operating plants in the country, Davao City, La Union, Bulacan and Lugait.
The said lockout was clearly to intimidate the workers to submit to the terms of the company after the deadlock of the Collective Bargaining Agreements between Holcim Philippines and the rank-and-file union Holcim Philippines Workers Union (HPWU) for the last two years of the existing CBA and another five (5) year term for the supervisory union Holcim Lugait Supervisory Union (HLSU), both members of the Federation of Democratic Labor Organizations (FDLO).
This lockout forced the two unions to mass up and assert their demands on the negotiating table facilitated by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) through the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) Region X Office.
In the negotiations, the representatives of HPI imposed a “take it or leave it” position much lower to the demand increase and benefits of the two unions. This was despite the openness of the unions to resolve the dispute hearing the recommendation of the NCMB which is viable for HPWU and HLSU.
HPI justified its hardline position on “financial setback/net profit slump” which the workers through the unions vehemently refuted based on the actual cement dispatch and plant performance of Holcim Lugait Plant in the year 2024 and even prior. Hence, the lockout is not consistent with this logic. But if this is indeed true, the best way to face the challenge is to allow your workers to work.
The best way to resolve the dispute is at the negotiating table with democratically and mutually agreed terms.
Why this battle is worth supporting? To give up on the management’s terms will have a ripple effect on all workers and unions in all industries and sectors. The lockout’s message is very clear which is to stifle and weaken the workers’ movement and the unions.
Lastly, we call on all workers, organizations and movements in the Philippines and the world to unite and support the call of the workers and the unions!
Lanao Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (LAHRA)
Alyansa ng mga Mamamayan para sa Karapatang Pantao (Citizens’ Alliance for Human Rigths, AMKP)
Kilusang Maralita sa Kanayunan (Movement of the rural poor, KILOS KA)
January 12. 2025
Source: FaceBook.
