Workers at a DHL warehouse in the Philippines have gone on strike after the logistics company announced its closure just weeks after they won collective bargaining rights, prompting accusations that the business is moving operations elsewhere to sideline the union. International trade unions have joined calls for DHL to negotiate with the workers.
A newly recognised union at DHL’s Sucat warehouse in the Philippines is fighting to keep its members’ jobs after the company announced the closure of the facility, putting 473 workers at risk of redundancy.
The workers formed the DHL United Workers Union (DUWU) in May and won a certification on 29 May, giving the union the legal status of sole collective bargaining representative for the workforce. But less than two months later, DHL announced that the Sucat warehouse would close at the end of August.
The union believes the timing is no coincidence. It argues that DHL is moving the work to other facilities rather than genuinely winding down the operation, allowing the company to sidestep the union and its newly won right to bargain collectively.
The workers went on strike on 17 August, staging protests at DHL facilities and outside the Philippines’ Department of Labor and Employment. Their campaign has since attracted international support. On 3 September, LabourStart, an international labour news and campaigning platform, launched a petition calling on trade unions and workers around the world to support the DHL workers. More than 1,600 people had signed by 5 September.
A warehouse closure – but the work continues?
The dispute comes after years of concerns among Sucat workers over low pay, unpaid wages and disparities in wages and benefits. The formation of DUWU was intended to give workers a collective voice in negotiations over pay, benefits and working conditions.
The union’s victory in May appeared to open the way for collective bargaining. On 21 July, DHL and DUWU met for the first time under the auspices of the Philippines’ National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB).
Instead of moving straight into negotiations, however, DHL told the union that the Sucat warehouse would close and that all 473 employees would be affected.
DHL says the decision was driven by the expiry of its contract with Robinsons Supermarket, one of its major customers. The union disputes that explanation.
DUWU says DHL had told workers towards the end of 2025 that it had secured a three-year contract, and is demanding an explanation for why the arrangement was subsequently terminated.
The union also says the business itself has not disappeared. Robinsons’ goods have continued to move through DHL’s network, with some shipments transferred from Sucat to facilities in Laguna and Pampanga from 16 August.
That has fuelled fears that the closure is less about ending the operation than relocating it.
On 26 August, striking workers protested at DHL’s facility in Sta Rosa. SENTRO, a national trade union centre supporting the campaign, said the site was increasingly resembling what labour organisers call a “runaway shop” – where a company moves an operation to another workplace to escape an existing union or collective bargaining obligations.
For the union movement, the central question is therefore not simply whether DHL is closing one warehouse. If the same work continues elsewhere, they argue, moving the operation could effectively deprive workers of the collective bargaining rights they had only recently secured.
International commitments under scrutiny
The dispute has also put the spotlight on DHL’s commitments to trade union rights.
The company has agreements with the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) and UNI Global Union that recognise workers’ rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining. The agreements also commit the parties to maintaining dialogue over labour issues.
DHL’s 2025 annual report says the company maintains regular and open dialogue with ITF and UNI, and identifies freedom of association as a key part of its human rights commitments.
But the Centre for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR) in the Philippines says the company’s handling of the Sucat dispute is at odds with those commitments. It has accused DHL management of undermining workers’ organising rights and threatening their job security.
The planned closure at the end of August has now taken place, but the dispute has not gone away.
DUWU is demanding that DHL stop delaying collective bargaining and provide employment protection for the affected workers. It argues that if the work is resumed or transferred to another DHL facility, Sucat workers should be given priority for re-employment.
LabourStart and SENTRO are calling on DHL to stop what they describe as anti-union action and enter genuine negotiations with the workers.
By 5 September, more than 1,600 people had signed the international petition.
The International Trade Union Confederation has also expressed solidarity with the workers and called on DHL to negotiate in good faith.
The dispute now places an international spotlight on DHL’s treatment of organised workers in the Philippines and on whether a multinational company can be held to the same labour rights commitments wherever it operates.
Photo: DHL United Workers Union