The Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR), an NGO that works for the empowerment of workers in the formal and informal sectors of the economy to claim their labor and human rights, expresses its alarm over electronics giant Nexperia’s union-busting drive in its plant in Cabuyao, Laguna.

We call on the Nexperia management in the company’s plant in the Philippines and even in its headquarters in Nijmegen, Netherlands, to engage in dialogue and negotiations in earnest with workers who were left with no choice but to file a notice of strike on June 26.

In the name of “cost optimization,” Nexperia dismissed eight workers, including three officials of the Nexperia Philippines Inc. Workers Union, which is affiliated with the National Federation of Labor Unions-Kilusang Mayo Uno  (NPIWU-NAFLU-KMU), placed 54 workers under “temporary layoff,” and violated Collective Bargaining Agreement provisions, including the “last in, first out” principle.

NPIWU-NAFLU-KMU also reported the Nexperia management’s interference into the union’s scheduled strike vote on July 17. Instead of being a bystander as mandated by law, the Nexperia management laid down the following conditions: that workers tap their IDs, that ballots be stamped, and that a management representative be allowed inside the voting area. Because of the management’s interference, the strike vote did not push through and had to be rescheduled.

Nexperia has a lot of explaining to do with regard to these labor violations, as it proudly states in its website that it employs 14,000 employees in three continents and that it produces components that enable the functioning of “virtually every electronic design in the world – from automotive and industrial to mobile and consumer applications.”

The company’s website also states that it ships 100 billion products a year, has USD 2.4 billion in annual revenue and corners 9.4% of the global market. It also says that the company is sustainable, being among the Top 5% of companies in the industry, and has policies that protect the environment and uphold human rights, and are inclusive of women and LGBTQIA+.

While Nexperia, whose previous names were “Philips” and “NXP,” is home to a long-standing militant workers’ union in the Philippines, it has also been the site of workers’ struggles against mass layoffs, union-busting, contractualization and other violations of workers’ rights.

The notice of strike that was filed by workers poses a challenge to Nexperia to prove its claims of adhering to labor and human rights. Its cost optimization scheme should not be undertaken at the expense of workers’ livelihood and basic labor rights.

CTUHR calls on Nexperia to re-engage in dialogue and negotiations in earnest with the workers’ union, reinstate the union officials and workers whom it dismissed from work, and enforce provisions of the CBA that it forged with the workers and their union.###