Thursday, March 18, 2004
283 workers fired
AT LEAST 283 of the 294 workers who went on strike last March 8 to 15 have lost their jobs with Sulpicio Lines Inc.
Eleven others who remained employed were able to convince the management that they obeyed the return-to-work order issued by Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas, said lawyer Geraldine Jorda, the company’s chief of personnel.
Sulpicio legal counsel Manuel Espina said the company already sent notices to the strikers that they could no longer work with the company after they refused to obey the labor secretary.
Pay, benefits
In a press conference yesterday, the company’s first since the dispute, Jorda said that of the 1,414 crew and officers of Sulpicio’s 27 vessels, only 294 joined the strike.
But they were able to paralyze operations through intimidation, Jorda added.
All the strikers belong to the Unyon ng mga Mandaragat sa Sulpicio Solid (UMSS), which is affiliated with Anglo-KMU.
Sulpicio spokesman Ulysses Yap said they called the press conference to correct “the half-truths spread by UMSS and their allied party-list groups Anakpawis and Gabriela.”
Yap also said the company is willing to explain to Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal,
after the strikers “dragged the church” into the controversy.
Cardinal Vidal has invited Sulpicio officials to a meeting at 4 p.m. today, said Espina.
Sulpicio, one of the top five shipping fleets in the country, has suffered two strikes in less than a year, both of them stemming from UMSS’ bid to be recognized, instead of a rival union, for bargaining.
Lawyer Bertino Ruaya Jr., also of Sulpicio, said that all Sulpicio workers are regular employees because they don’t have contractual personnel as practiced by other companies.
Contrary to the “black propaganda” from the strikers, Sulpicio pays its workers above
minimum-wage rates of P9,910 a month, Ruaya said.
Sulpicio workers also get 40 days vacation and sick leave credits convertible to cash, P1,800 in Christmas bonus on top of the 13th month pay, free hospitalization of up to P40,000 a year, retirement benefits equivalent to 28 days per year, disability benefits equivalent to 28 days a year and a scholarship program for the personnel’s children, said Ruaya.
Union dispute
As to the allegations that strikers were replaced with inexperienced crew, Jorda said that all vessels are manned by competent crew. Most are graduates of nautical courses but who work temporarily as non-officers while waiting for their papers to be completed.
Jorda said they even surpassed minimum requirements set by the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina), because Sulpicio has also met international safety management standards.
“The working conditions are really comfortable and not oppressive as the strikers alleged,” Espina said.
Management’s offer to file a petition for certification election is already cancelled, Espina added.
The company will leave the solution to the labor dispute to the National Labor Relations Commission, which Secretary Sto. Tomas asked to solve the case.
“We are just caught in an inter-union dispute between UMSS and the Associated Labor Unions (ALU),” Espina said. Two ALU-affiliated unions are the currently recognized workers’ collective bargaining agents. EOB
(March 18, 2004 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
