They also accuse Triumph International of adopting union-busting tactics in sacking more than 1,600 workers in the Philippines last month and 19 union members in Thailand.

About 30 Filipino and Thai union members, who flew in to protest outside the Triumph International (Hong Kong) office in Kowloon Bay, said the company will also lay off about 2,000 workers in Thailand at the end of this month.

Two factories in the Philippines were closed and 1,660 workers laid off last month while one in Thailand laid off 19 workers, 13 of them union committee members. The Thai layoffs have drawn suspicion of union-busting.

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Isabella Dela Cruz, president of the New Unity of Workers in Triumph International Philippines, said Triumph is shifting operations in the Philippines to provinces where it can hire cheaper labor. "They want to get rid of the unions as well. They took away our dignity as workers and humans."

She added that some laid-off workers cannot now pay their rent and their children have been forced to stop schooling. The unions are demanding unconditional reinstatement and to stop union-busting.

Chanting "Long live international solidarity" and "Justice to the workers of Triumph International," they waited outside the building until general manager Ivy Li Sui-yu met them.

"The office in Hong Kong is only for marketing. It has nothing to do with manufacturing," she told the protesters.