Philippine fire death trap highlights sweatshop abuses

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.

Authorities have also blamed barred windows on the second floor which trapped many of the workers, leading to their deaths.

The lawyer for Kentex, Renato Paraiso said that the steel bars on the windows were intended to prevent theft.

"The second floor, where you had the steel mattings, that is [where] the final production is done, so this is where the completed products can easily be thrown from the window where someone can pick them up outside. It is a precaution," he told ABS-CBN television.

Alan Tanjusay, spokesman of the largest labour federation in the Philippines, told AFP the situation in the factory mirrored that in many others.

"This is a very common situation. This is just one factory but it represents the... kind of factories in this country," he said.

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.

The Philippines has very strong labour laws and a vocal union movement, but the massive numbers of impoverished people and endemic corruption throughout society are two key factors that allow workers' exploitation to flourish.

Roughly one quarter of the nation's 100 million people live in poverty, which is defined as surviving on about one dollar a day, according to government data.

High school dropouts desperate to support relatives are particularly easy prey, according to labour secretary Baldoz.

"They have no regular jobs. When someone offers them a job, they grab it," she said.

Baldoz said President Benigno Aquino's administration, which has been in power for five years, had worked hard to improve labour conditions.

She cited the closing down of 10,000 of an estimated 15,000 illegal employment agencies.

Those agencies are an integral part of the exploitation chain because they hire workers as casuals, allowing companies to turn a blind eye to exploitation such as withholding pensions and paying below the minimum wage.

Baldoz also pointed to the establishment of arbitration courts that resolved labour disputes in as little as 30 days.

But Baldoz said that factory owners and labour unions were responsible for ensuring that these safety laws were observed.

This voluntary compliance is one of the big problems, according to the Labor Party, a small political group representing workers.

"Voluntary compliance and self-assessment means that the government is asking the wolf to guard the sheep. No wonder the sheep get slaughtered," party chairman Renato Magtubo said.

Valenzuela, the industrial district in northern Manila where this week's fire occurred, promotes itself as one of the city's "premier business and industrial centres'.

But workers at surrounding factories -- which manufacture products such as cosmetics, plastics, paper plates and small appliances -- recounted similar tales of exploitation as those at the Kentex factory.

They emerged from garrison-like compounds, surrounded by towering fences topped with barbed wire and with security guards patrolling the perimeter, with stories of long hours for little pay.

A common theme was being paid well below the minimum wage.

"I don't have enough for food and other expenses. Sometimes, I borrow money," said one worker aged 36 who moved to Manila from the poor central island province of Masbate after dropping out of high school in the 1990s.