Former senator Agapito "Butz" Aquino was in that meeting and although he left early, his secretary approached me to ask for an article in the upcoming issue of the Philippine Cooperative Center's newsletter, The COOP VOICE.
I shared a story about a cooperative which I had a hand in organizing: the Pinagkaisa at Nagkakaisang Manggagawa ng R. Hortaleza Multi-purpose Cooperative.
Here is the article:
From Crisis to Opportunity: The Story of a True Worker’s Cooperative
by Arnel Abeleda
It is the shared nightmare of the working class: reporting for work one morning and finding out that the company has closed shop. This is what happened to some 300 workers of a popular chain of beauty supply and vaciador shops one fateful morning in July, 2007. A working class nightmare they soon collectively transformed into a working class dream.
On July 1, 2007, the workers of R. Hortaleza shops suddenly found themselves out of work as all of their branches in Metro Manila, Cavite and Laguna were closed down and padlocked in the night. A paltry sign was posted in each of the shops saying the shops were closed due to bankruptcy. The two labor unions, namely the Nagkakaisang Manggagawa ng R. Hortaleza, representing the supervisory personnel and the Pinagkaisang Manggagawa ng R. Hortaleza, representing the rank-and-file personnel immediately called for a unified general assembly, filed a case at the labor department for illegal dismissal and then went on strike. It was a harrowing experience for them and prospects for the future were, at that time, certainly bleak.
The picket line was also thinning as the days went by. The workers, caught unawares either had hardly any savings or were in debt and thus had to find other sources of income in the mean time. Some of their members went back to their home provinces.
Their usual customers or ‘suki’ were also caught unawares. They brought their knives, coping saws and nail clippers to be sharpened only to find there’s a picket line outside the shops. Some enterprising vaciadors, seizing this opportunity, sharpened the objects themselves, albeit manually.
Eventually, the idea to take over the business left by their erring employer started to take root. After all, they have the requisite skills of seasoned vaciadors, they knew the suppliers and more importantly, they have earned the trust of their customers or ‘suki’ for a great number of years. All they needed was capital to get the business going.
Some money lenders were even offering to finance select shops. But they decided to manage the shops themselves. It was at that point that they toyed with the idea of forming a cooperative. A genuine worker’s cooperative that would be owned, managed and run by the members themselves. They would report for work, conduct their business and set their own salaries and incentives.
This was the genesis of the Pinagkaisa at Nagkakaisang Manggagawa ng R. Hortaleza Multi-purpose Cooperative.
Starting with a capital of twenty thousand pesos (P20,000.00) borrowed from the lifetime savings of one of their members, they bought supplies at Divisoria and started their trade. They wanted to retain the loyalty of their existing customers but could not afford the pricey rentals of their branches’ former locations so the Cooperative decided to ply their trade in less pricey locations but always at a place near their former place of business. They borrowed almost half a million pesos from various sources in order to rebuild their business in five branches---out of the total twelve branches originally---in Metro Manila and Laguna.
Running their own business, they admit is not a walk in the park. In 2008, they had to close their branch in Singalong, Manila due to poor sales. Their four remaining branches in Blumentritt (2454 Rizal Ave. ext., Sta. Cruz, Manila), Sucat (8292 PDRC Bldg., Dr. A Santos Ave., Parañaque), Alabang (354 Romicar Bldg., National Road, Alabang, Muntinlupa) and Biñan, Laguna (Kris 100, Sto. Domingo St., Biñan, Laguna) are still going strong. In fact, they have almost paid their loan obligations and are seeking to expand in other areas.
Aside from sharpening services of a vaciador, their shops also supply products for beauty parlors and they have recently ventured into production of nail files and nail pushers after getting a grant from the Department of Labor and Employment in the form a production machine. Ably headed by Board Chairperson Ms. Fe Floralde, Vice-chairperson Mr. Chito Doluntap, and Manager Mr. Denes Evasco with Ms. Cristina David as treasurer and Ms. Shirley Protacio as Secretary, this cooperative serves as a model worker’s cooperative.
So what is their trade name, you ask? It’s called “Worker’s Control Beauty Supply & Vaciador ng Bayan”.
Truly, the coop sector’s answer to the working class dream.
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