Friday, July 04, 2008 Fears of job loss grow as Transco changes hands
EMPLOYEES of the National Transmission Corporation (Transco) are growing apprehensive over job security, saying the company's new owner and the government have done nothing to clarify their employment status once the transmission firm is transferred to private hands by September.
Rufino Magbanua, Transco spokesman for Northern Mindanao, said the company's 6,000 employees are "increasingly wary" over their jobs and at a loss on their separation benefits.
Both the Senate and House versions of the Franchise Bill that would seal Transco's takeover by a Filipino-Chinese consortium did not include provisions for job security and separation benefits of existing personnel, Magbanua told Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro on Thursday.
"We want security, as every government or private employee would naturally demand," the Transco spokesman said. "But as we see it, the pending bills in Congress that would pave way for private ownership of Transco contain no single provision that would protect us or guarantee that we are properly compensated in any eventuality."
He said Transco's employees union, the Mindanao Transco Employees Association (Mintrea), had already started "drum beating our advocacies so that our grievances are heard by the government and the company's new owners."
He said Mintrea is demanding the inclusion of employee protection clause in the Franchise Bill, as well as an increase in severance pay for employees who opt to retire early.
Under existing rules, Magbanua said government employees are only granted separation pay equivalent to one-month salary for every year of service. Transco employees want to raise that to three to five months per year of service under the Franchise Bill.
To press their demands, Magbanua, who is also Mintrea's vice president, said Transco employees all over the country will hold "dialogues" in the workplace during breaks and after office hours.
He ruled out a full-blown protest, saying Transco employees would want a smooth transition as its new owner, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines, is expected to formally assume operations beginning September.
"It barely two months before our new employer would come in. Sad to say, we are still left in the dark; we still don't know what life is after Transco," Magbanua said.
Fernando Masapol, Mintrea president, vowed to take their job security concerns in three fronts: legislative, legal and information drive.
"The privatization of Transco is a policy direction of the government and we respect that. What we are after is the welfare of the employees because by now, nothing is clear yet on what will happen to us after Transco," he said.
