CEBU CITY, Philippines -- Two export companies at the Mactan Economic Zone (MEZ) have retrenched a total of 275 workers.

Maithland Smith Ltd., a furniture company, and Taiyo Yuden Philippines Inc., which produces spare parts for cellular phones, did not notify the labor department about the retrenchment, said Fe Cabigon, administrative officer of the National Labor Relations Commission in Central Visayas (NLRC 7).

The two companies could have been affected by the global economic crisis since most of their clients are based in the United States, Cabigon said.

The retrenched workers on Tuesday went to the NLRC 7 in Cebu City to file complaints of illegal dismissal against the management of the two firms.

Cabigon said 260 workers from Maithland Smith and 15 workers from Taiyo Yuden filed complaints of illegal dismissal against their respective employers.

Officials from Maithland Smith and Taiyo Yuden were not available for comment on Wednesday.

Cabigon said the Maithland Smith workers were told by the management on Monday that they were retrenched because of the "redundancy" of their positions.

Cabigon said the workers said they were not given separation pay and other benefits.

The Department of Labor and Employment’s regional director Elias Cayanong said he was not formally informed of the latest retrenchments at MEZ.

Cayanong earlier met officials of export companies in MEZ to appeal to them to adopt other cost-saving measures such as reducing the number of work days in a week instead of retrenching workers.