Manila - The deaths of 72 people in a fire that gutted a footwear factory in the Philippine capital has exposed abusive conditions for millions of poor and desperate workers across the nation.
The tragedy, in a long row of gated factories in an industrial hub of Manila on Wednesday, was one of the country's deadliest workplace accidents.
But the exploitation of the workers at the factory, where lax safety standards caused the fire, is anything but unusual across the Philippines, according to the government and unions.
"The deaths should serve as a wake-up call for businessmen to stop these abuses... they should give their employees dignity," Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz told AFP.
Baldoz angrily hit out at the owners of the company that owned the factory, Kentex Manufacturing, branding them as "immoral" and accusing them of a raft of illegal labour practices.
The workers, who produced cheap sandals and slippers for the domestic market, were paid well below the minimum wage of 481 pesos ($10.90) a day and were denied a host of legally mandated benefits, survivors of the blaze and victims' relatives told AFP.
They said workers were forced to toil 12-hour days, seven days a week without overtime, had legally-required social security and health insurance payments withheld, and were forced to constantly inhale foul-smelling chemicals.
The government said the fire was caused by welding being carried out near flammable chemicals, highlighting what workers described as a casual approach to workplace safety in which there were no fire drills.
"This is a very common situation. This is just one factory but it represents the... kind of factories in this country," Alan Tanjusay, spokesman of the largest labour federation in the Philippines, told AFP.
Tanjusay said compliance with safety standards was "really bad" not just in factories, but also construction sites where workers often did not wear protective clothing.
AFP
