NCMB exec unaware of new strike notice

AN OFFICER of the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB)-Davao is unaware whether workers of the Lapanday Fruits Corporation have filed a notice of strike as bared in a press release Friday.

In a text message Sunday, Paciano Murro Jr., NCMB regional conciliator-mediator, said he is yet to formally check their records whether the workers have filed a notice of strike before their office.

Murro said, however, that as per office protocol, after filing a notice of strike, they call the parties involved for initial conference to validate the issues.

In a press statement, the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) said the workers filed a notice of strike (NS) after the collapse of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) negotiations.

The Box and Plastic Plant mainly produces boxes needed for export bananas and pineapples while its Plastic Plant manufactures plastic wraps and other plastic products needed in banana production.

Romelito Pablo, president of Lapanday Box and Plastic Plant Workers Union-Association of Democratic Labor Organizations-Kilusang Mayo Uno, said their proposals are just meager and viable in comparison to the profit that their company is gaining.

The group said its proposal is only pegged at P516,156.70 a month (cost of all benefits) in contrast to P90,337,417.25 monthly sales that the Box Plant alone is generating.

According to the union's estimate, their proposal is a little over two percent of the monthly net income of the Box Plant alone without still considering the plastic plant's income.

"Some of the opposing issues stalled in the negotiations are the salary increase and medical assistance. The union demanded an additional P75 per day increase of their wage while the Lapanday management offered only P5 per day increment. The union is demanding P3,000 yearly medical assistance against Lapanday management P300 yearly medical assistance per employee," the statement read.

“We are very disappointed on how the Lapanday management responded to our demands. We are not asking the heavens. We are just asking our just share of our fruits of labor as guaranteed in Philippine Constitution,” Pablo lamented.

A PowerPoint presentation of the mid-year NCMB report shows they handled 35 labor dispute cases from January to June this year, which comprise 19 cases for conciliation-mediation, 14 single entry approach and two cases for voluntary arbitration.

The office said it facilitated a total of P45,881,364.35 monetary benefits involving 5,371 workers.

From the 19 cases for conciliation-mediation (con-med), seven were for a notice of strike with 1,491 workers who got P3,100,000 monetary benefits in return. (Arianne Caryl N. Casas)