MANILA, Philippines — Around 5,100 local garment factory workers across the country have been either retrenched or forced to go on leave since the beginning of the year due mainly to weak demand overseas that depressed local orders.
On Monday, Confederation of Wearable Exporters of the Philippines (Conwep) executive director Maritess Jocson-Agoncillo said that at least nine factories have been affected, including Luenthai Philippines, the country’s biggest exporter of textile goods using cotton.
In total, around 4,577 workers have been retrenched, while another 500 were made to go on leave. This is equivalent to about 3 percent of the 182,600 workers employed by the Conwep member companies.
Of those retrenched, Luenthai accounted for close to half at 2,000, which is equivalent to as much as 60 percent of its workers.