More than 1,500 Sumifru workers lost their jobs recently in Tagbina, Surigao del Sur after management stopped production last June.

Around 500 workers of the Japanese banana firm Sumitomo Fruits Corporation (Sumifru) awaited outside their plant at Barangay San Jose, Compostela, Compostela Valley province on Tuesday, expecting they will return to work after a year-long struggle for their reinstatement.

A local labor union of a banana-export plantation run by Sumifru Philippines Corp. in Compostela Valley sought the support of the Japanese consumers to boycott the company’s banana brand.

Red flags are still waving high as hundreds of banana workers remained on strike against the giant Japanese banana firm for its unfair labor practices and the company’s push for government’s immediate intervention on different attacks against the striking workers.

Workers’ group on Monday lamented that the labor woes involving a Japanese multinational banana firm was not tackled before the visit of Japanese foreign minister Taro Kono here in the country.

A banana plantation worker who was a member of a workers’ union has survived a slay try in Compostela town, Compostela Valley province on Sunday evening, an official said Monday.

A worker’s union involved in a labor dispute with Sumifru Philippines in Compostela Valley province is set to file raps against the dispersal team composed of police and soldiers for causing physical injuries and damage to properties when the group held a protest strike last October 11.

A union member of Sumifru company was gunned down by unidentified men in Compostela town on Wednesday evening.

String workers are now seeking refuge in a Catholic church here after hundreds of unidentified men dispersed their strike camp in seven Sumifru packing plants early morning of October 11.

A militant lawmaker hit out the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) 11 for the violent dispersal of workers of Japanese-owned banana firm Sumitomo Fruit Corp. (Sumifru) who went on strike in Compostela Valley Province.