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NEXT only to Lucio Tan, Henry Sy has been listed by
Forbes magazine as the second richest Filipino, ranking 843rd among
the world’s wealthiest with an estimated net worth of $1.4
billion.
Sy is the founder of the
country’s largest retail chain, the SM Group, named after the
small-time Shoemart that he put up some 60 years ago in Avenida
Rizal.
By the end of 2008, the Sys may
end up with 33 malls nationwide. They have recently acquired three
malls in China.
One of its branches, the SM Mall
of Asia, is also the country’s largest and reputedly the world’s
fourth largest.
The Sys are also into banking,
leisure and resort development and real estate. They own Banco de
Oro, one of the country’s largest banks after it acquired the
Equitable PCI Bank.
Workers’ woes
Like any other success stories of
Filipino-Chinese businessmen, there is no doubt that Henry Sy built
his vast fortune through hard work, business acumen, grit and
determination.
However, it is also a fact that
SM malls throughout the country are still hiring workers on
contractual basis, mostly in sales and services, depriving them of
job security and other benefits.
Some employees have already
worked for 10 to 15 years at SM but they are still contractuals and
are not covered by the Social Security System and PhilHealth.
One time, when a male sales clerk
assisted us in pushing our cart of merchandise to our car in the
parking lot, he asked me if I could help him find a job.
When I told him that he already
had a job, he said he had already worked for five months and was due
for layoff. He said he was recently married and he wanted a more
stable job. I told him I will try but did not promise anything.
Strike at SM
Sometime in the late 2003 at the
height of a strike staged by SM workers belonging to the Sandigan ng
Manggagawa sa Shoemart (SMS), an article, albeit too harsh on the
Sys, entitled “The Mall Empire that Slavery Built,” was posted
on the Bulatlat.com, the online alternative newsmagazine.
According to the article, since
1990, SM workers in Metro Manila have staged four strikes including
the one in July 2003 that lasted for six months. The article said
that the strikers won public sympathy because of one issue:
contractualization. At that time, SM malls employed 20,000
contract workers, which the company calls “trainees” and only
about 4,000 were regular workers. The contractuals work as regulars
but minus the benefits.
In a position paper, the SMS said
that SM’s 20,000 trainees are simply yanked out of their jobs
every three to five months to be replaced by new ones. This means,
every year the company hires 80,000 new workers.
The striking SM workers charged
that Sy and his family built their retail empire “through the
blood, sweat and tears of workers.”
Today, we learned that there are
more than 30,000 contractual employees in all SM branches in the
country but only about 2,000 of them are unionized. Most of these
“trainees” are hired through a recruitment firm called
Brotherhood, Inc., which is run by the Iglesia ni Cristo. The SM
management finds it’s safe to hire INC members because they are
not allowed to join strikes.
Contractualization actually began
during the Marcos dictatorship when a decree was signed allowing
companies to hire workers on contract for special work. But it was
institutionalized by the succeeding administrations.
Figures from labor sources show
that from 1995 to 2005, the number of contractual workers had soared
from 65 to 78 percent of the country’s 12 million active workers.
This situation has prompted some
legislators last year to call for a congressional inquiry on the
issue. However, nothing happened.
A church at SM
Sy is reportedly a devout Roman
Catholic. In all SM malls, there is a chapel somewhere and a mass is
held every Sunday before the malls open.
At the sprawling Mall of Asia
complex at the Reclamation Area in Paranaque City, there stands an
imposing Church that overlooks the huge mall and the other
structures owned by Henry Sy. The church was built by Henry Sy.
Like everyone else this could be
Sy’s idea of preparing for the next life. But did it ever occur to
him that the best insurance for his soul’s salvation is to share
his immense wealth with the less fortunate, including his own
contractual employees who for so long have been deprived of the
basic benefits due them?
Perhaps on this Lenten Season,
Mr. Sy should be reminded of Proverbs 11:28 which says “Whoever
trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a
green leaf”
malinaolito@yahoo.com.
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