Post on the Kowloon Incident
I, Fiel had received an email from one Rayna Vihuela Reyes with the email subject “Boycott Kowloon House”
here is an exact copy of her statement to me:
taken from a friend at anakbayan-up diliman.
Before June of this year, the Kowloon management refused to pay the minimum wage which was mandated by law. In fact, it did not follow the three most-recent wage hikes, amounting to 82 pesos. As a result, while other workers were already receiving at least P382 a day, the workers of Kowloon only got home P300.
To pressure management into giving them SOMETHING WHICH THE LAW ALREADY MANDATED AS THEIRS yet which management refused to give, the workers wore black ribbons at work in a single day last June. But instead of listening to the workers, management instead reprimanded them, especially the union leaders.
Afterwards, they decided to hold a “picket protest” AFTER their WORK-HOURS and AWAY from any locations that would result in DISRUPTIONS of OPERATIONS. Management then decided to hold negotiations with the union. But secretly, they filed a case of “illegal strike” against the workers at the NLRC (National Labor Relations Commission). So when management did agree to raise their wages to P377 a day, the workers only enjoyed this wage hike for one pay day. Why? Because the other Saturday, all 73 members of the union were fired.
Meanwhile, the contractual workers of Kowloon receive only P250 a day.
All of this is ironic because Kowloon could easily pay for the demands of the workers. After all, the owners of the restaurant never applied for “exemption” from the minimum wage, something the Law affords to businesses that can’t afford to pay the minimum wage to its workers without going bankrupt. A lot of local businesses do that, but Kowloon never did. Its either they simply can afford to pay the minimum wage, or the owners of the restaurant have a severe case of amnesia (selective that is).
To illustrate their point, the workers calculated the amount in backwages (the amount of wages which all workers in Kowloon should have received if management had obeyed the three most-recent wage hikes). They then compared it to the sales for a SINGLE product of the restaurant: the siopao. Their calculations showed that the total backwages owed to all the workers was more than equalled by Kowloon sales for siopaos in only 11 days!
If this is greed at its worst, then the NLRC is stupidity exemplified. It ruled in favor of Kowloon management, agreeing that the workers indeed held an “illegal strike”. How could that have happened? Could it be possible that someone from NLRC forget that the definition of a “strike” is a stoppage of work? How could there have been a strike, when the workers protested outside of their work hours?
As of my writing, the workers of Kowloon have already established their picket line. To confront these unarmed and hungry workers, management has hired so many security guards that they virtually equal the number of striking workers. Who has heard of a restaurant with 20-30 security guards? The only restaurants that I know that have such a number are those in the movies that house activities of the Mafia. Come to think of it, its appropriate. The Kowloon management’s greed and dishonesty in dealing with the workers can only be described as nothing short of “criminal”.
And like everything in the Philippines, the Government sides with the thieves, not the theft victims. The Phil. National Police keeps a few cops on the scene at the ready… to disperse the picketline should there be a moment where no outsiders will intervene. Members of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Phils. have installed a security camera near the picket line, an obvious attempt to harrass students and youths who have regularly visited the picket line in the past few days to show their support to the workers.
This is something which should never be tolerated, and has no place in just society. I urge everyone, my relatives, friends, classmates, schoolmates, casual acquaintances, “online buddies”, and anyone else who is reading this, to adopt the cause of the Kowloon workers as if it was their own. Because like in the time of Hitler, the best accomplice of evil are those who keep silent and remain apathetic.
Please participate NOW. Everything is stacked against the workers. Here are a few suggestions:
- Tell everyone you know to boycott Kowloon Restaurant until it agrees to take back the 73 laid-off workers. The best way to hurt greedy people is by denying them our money.
- Repost an online version of their statement all over the internet, write blog entries, post in message boards, and send emails, all regarding this issue.
- Donate money so they can sustain their strike. Its not easy to feed 73 people especially when they all just recently lost their jobs. If you belong to an organization, have your org make it an activity of theirs to raise funds for the strikers.
- Visit the picket line and show your support. As the workers in my previous visits have told me, the morale support they get from us is priceless to them. In a system that stacks everything against them, our support really matters. And aside from that, the constant pressure of youths and students constantly raising hell at the picket line has created negative publicity towards the restaurant, forcing management to promise to hold a dialogue.
- Have your organization, barkada, block, church, family, or whatever, to support the workers.
Thank you and a Good day to you all.
Now I do not wish to make any judgement – only that I am a supporter of proper labor especially here in the Philippines. As a man who is experienced in business and dealing with employees, I could say that if this statement was accurate it would be just plain evil.
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