Hanjin shipyard is workers' graveyard - Partido ng Manggagawa

'The Hanjin shipyard is a graveyard of workers.'

This was the assessment of Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) saying that the government must make Hanjin comply with the country's labor code, safety regulations, payment of wages and benefits, observance of working hours, among others.

“Instead of beating war drums over the Spratlys it is better that President Benigno Aquino III wage war for workers rights at Subic,” he said, referring to the country’s dispute with China over sovereignty on the oil-rich islands,' Renato Magtubo, PM chair said.

The Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) said at least 26 workers have already died due to lack of safety standards in the Hanjin shipyard.

Magtubo said labor accidents would have been abated if the government was not “sleeping on its job” of enforcing workers’ protection laws.

PM noted that some 21,000 laborers work in the Hanjin shipyard but just a few hundred are claimed by the giant multinational as its employees since most are hired by 19 subcontractors.(30)