Thursday, November 03, 2005
ALU workers file notice of strike vs. Veco
By Elias O. Baquero
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
Employees of the Visayan Electric Co. (Veco) could go on strike if a labor dispute is not settled during mediation talks.
The Associated Labor Unions (ALU) filed a notice of strike last Oct. 28, in which it accused Veco of unfair labor practice and of removing regular employees only to replace them with contractual employees.
The notice of strike was filed with the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB).
A mediation meeting is set on Monday, Nov. 7, said Conciliator Edmund Mirasol.
Veco spokesperson Ethel Natera said the company will issue a statement once the management will come up with its stand.
“We have not yet received a copy of the notice of strike and it’s difficult on our part to comment on something we have not seen. At present, Veco operations are normal and the union, the employees and the management have a good relationship,” Natera said.
Benefits
Jose Boquecosa, ALU chief legal counsel, said that after the Aboitiz Group took over Veco’s operations management last year, they removed more than 200 regular employees whom they offered retirement benefits of 175 percent on top of their normal benefits.
Boquecosa said that ALU accepted because they thought it was just a way of streamlining operations.
However, they later found out that the 200 employees were reportedly replaced with 296 contractual workers. Of the total 600
Veco employees, including linemen and meter readers, only 180 are union members.
Under the labor law, workers must be made regular employees six months from the date they are hired.
It has been more than a year since the Aboitiz Group took over and the 296 contractual employees are still working without security of tenure, Boquecosa said.
Labor costs
Aboitiz Equity Ventures chief executive officer Jon Ramon Aboitiz, in a report to stockholders last year, had said that among its power companies, Veco needed the most improvements, including cutting labor costs.
The company had offered an early retirement program to its employees.
Since June this year, Boquecosa said ALU has been sending letters to the Veco management for a dialogue.
The last letter, dated Oct. 18, 2005, was addressed to Veco general manager Alfonso Aboitiz, which allegedly got no reply.
“We just hope that Alfonso Aboitiz or somebody from the Veco management will come for the conciliation and mediation meeting,” Mirasol said.
The Aboitiz Group, through Aboitiz Equity Ventures, became Veco’s controlling shareholder last year, owning 54.55 percent of the power distribution firm.
The Garcia family of Hijos de F. Escaño had been at Veco’s helm since 1918.
(November 3, 2005 issue)
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