ANOTHER employee of garment firm Sako Corp. has filed labor complaints against the company, six months after the first group of workers alleged that they were abused.
Merlita Montano, 58, a cleaner at the factory, claims that a Sako supervisor humiliated and forced her to leave the site because she wanted to have a two-hour overtime.
Montano said the supervisor cursed her in front of other employees although she was already begging her to stop.
“I was verbally abused and humiliated,” Montano said.
She further alleged that Sako was not providing medical benefits to its employees. Further, that workers on duty from 1:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. were not allowed to take a break.
Montano’s companions Ednalyn Samana and Fely Ugma, who were both sewers at the factory, claimed that their employment contracts were not renewed because they supported the union.
Samana worked for Sako for six years while Ugma spent 11 years with the company. Both supported Montano’s allegations.
They said Sako’s management prefer Chinese workers over local residents and Filipino workers.
In a separate interview, Joseph Chan, president of Sako, denied the workers’ allegations.
“That’s totally untrue,” Chan said.
He blamed the verbal abuse allegation on the “language barrier” between the Chinese supervisor and Montano. He added that it was an isolated case.
Chan said factory workers are also allowed to have a 45-minute break.
He said Montano and other complaining employees are not ready for a more disciplined environment.
“Let’s put it this way. Some old-timers are not used in a disciplined environment. We have put up a successful program to train our employees,” Chan said.
Sako has 150 Chinese workers and about 70 local employees, according to Chan.
In November last year, a group of foreign workers also filed complaints against the factory, claiming that the management wanted to replace them with workers from China.
A group of resident workers from the same factory complained last year that their foreign counterparts were given preference in terms of workload.
All these allegations were denied by the management.
