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Friday, November 04, 2005
Port workers rally, vow more protests
By Lizanilla J. Amarga
OVER 300 members and sympathizers of the Phase II Port Workers Union (PPWU) staged a peaceful march rally Thursday to bring to public attention the alleged atrocities committed by Oroport Cargohandling Services Inc. (Oroport).
They contend that Oroport management has violated the contracts it signed with the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA), peace accord brokered by City Councilor Edgar Cabanlas, and the law when it reportedly hired minor children to do some of its contracts.
It also accused Oroport of failing to comply with the conditions of the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) order prohibiting any form of lockout and re-admitting all workers under the same terms and conditions prevailing before the scheduled strike.
The rallyists brought with them placards printed with: "Bungkagon ang Oroport Ibalik sa Casco", "Mayor Emano tabangi kami!", "Split the merger of Casco and Inport" and "Ibalik ang mga hired" and "Ibalik ang gi-lock-out" among others.
PPWU, an affiliate Association of Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP), already has some 298 workers of the total 400 regular workers at Oroport. It is mostly composed of workers from Casco.
Oroport is the result of the merger between Casco controlled by the Mendozas and INPORT controlled by the Neri-Siaos.
Roads and Traffic Administration chief operations Engineer Ricardo Valerio said there were some 300 people who joined the protest rally.
"Mga 300 sila kabook pero dili ko makasulti kung workers ba gyud kini sila tanan sa Oroport...pero so far peaceful man ang ilang gihimo nga protest rally," he said.
Verified complaint
ALU-TUCP regional vice-president Nicandro Borja said the rally they staged Thursday is only an initial salvo and that they would be planning more demonstrations in the coming weeks.
Borja said the march rally was to bring to the public's attention Oroport's deployment of 500 scabs on October 25-26 in the PTB, OTS, CFS and Agora gate areas, heightening tension in the port area.
He also said they want to bring to public attention the fielding of an additional 60 security guards bolstered by a fire truck with water cannons who are mostly assigned to intimidate PPWU members, contrary to the Dole order "not to commit any act that might exacerbate the situation."
But PPA-CDO information officer Gladeys Jill Santos-Cua told reporters Thursday that they could not as yet investigate the allegations made by PPWU-ALU-TUCP as they need to file a "verified complaint."
"Because they are airing their complaints verbally and so it would remain as hearsay unless they file a verified complaint in our office so that we could investigate their allegations (that there was violation made by Oroport on our contact with them)," she said.
PPA police station office chief Reginaldo Peñano said they neither noticed any 500 scabs around the port and the port was so far peaceful.
He also denied allegations that PPWU-ALU-TUCP members were not allowed entry by their guards as long as they are on the scheduled list and the necessary identification cards.
"Tanan man ang gipasulod wala may gipili," he said.
Mixed reactions
On the matter of violations on the peace accord, Cabanlas said he is ready to investigate any alleged violation reportedly committed by Oroport against the peace accord it signed with ALU-TUCP national president lawyer Democrito Mendoza Sr.
"Pero nakurat ako niini kay ang kadtong peace accord wala man gyud kadto mga conditions only that both parties would exhaust all means to arrive at a peaceful solution to the port problem," he said. "Kituyo gani to namo nga mubo lang ang peace accord kay daghan storya daghan na dayon sayop."
Cabanlas, who is the vice-chairman of City Hall's labor committee, said he is also ready to investigate allegations that Oroport has indirectly employed minors to do some of their contracts.
Meanwhile, former Casco worker and currently PPWU-ALU-TUCP member Oroport regular cash clerk Genaro Salon and former INPORT worker and MLU-FFWU member forklift operator Juan Yamit gave mixed reactions on Thursday's protest rally.
Salon said there are indeed scabs hired by Oroport particularly during nighttime.
"Tensionado gyud kay naa namay faction-faction diha sa sulod sa tarbaho-an," he said.
Yamit for his part denied the presence of the scabs saying they are workers of the company.
"Pero maayo kung padayonon nila ang strike para mapadayag nila ang ilang mga problema ug aron kini katagaan ug hustisya," he said.
(November 4, 2005 issue)
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