Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz yesterday described the conditions in a footwear factory where a fire claimed 72 lives this week as “immoral,” saying the owners illegally exploited their workers.
Baldoz said the owners of Kentex Manufacturing Corporation had broken employment laws that were meant to guarantee minimum salaries, pensions, and social security.
“This employer – they don’t have a sense of social responsibility,” Baldoz told AFP in an exclusive interview.
Seventy-two workers died when a fire tore through Kentex’s two-story factory, which produced cheap sandals and slippers for the local market, in an industrial district in Valenzuela City.
Welding that was being carried out close to inflammable chemicals ignited the fire, according to local authorities.
Nearly all of those killed were trapped on the second floor of the factory, with steel bars over windows ensuring they could not escape.
Manila Bulletin
