Friday, January 04, 2008 Workers picket firm for ‘union busting’
AT LEAST 80 rank-and-file workers of a manufacturing firm in Mandaue City went on strike yesterday to demand the reinstatement of over 30 dismissed colleagues, plus their back wages.
The workers, affiliated with the Associated Labor Union-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP), accused the Multi-Pack Manufacturing Corp. in Barangay Tipolo of union-busting by allegedly terminating the services of 36 of their members to thwart a certificate election.
In a certification election, rank-and-file workers decide whether to authorize a union to serve as their bargaining agent.
Sun.Star Cebu tried to get the company’s side, but was told its officials were working to come with a proposal, ahead of a meeting with the union organizers at the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) today.
About 14 container vans of finished carton products were reportedly not delivered to different firms because of the strike.
The picket line also blocked the entry of vehicles sent to deliver raw materials to the company, which makes packaging supplies.
Difficulties
Joy Lim, spokesperson for ALU, said the management’s decision to terminate the services of group leader George Gemoya last August was an obvious attempt to block the workers’ right to form a union.
Resentment from majority of the workers compelled the management to reinstate Gemoya last Aug. 24, Lim added.
“That would have opened the door for a dialogue, but in another strategy of intimidation, the management began terminating (the services of) workers by group, beginning last Nov. 26,” Lim told Sun.Star Cebu.
Lim said they originally scheduled the strike before Christmas, but because most of the workers wanted a peaceful holiday, they moved it to the first week of January.
The notice to strike was filed before the regional office of the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) in November. They set up a picket before 8 a.m. yesterday.
Wage issue
The NCMB failed to settle the labor dispute during the 30-day cooling-off period starting from the day the notice of strike was filed, Lim said.
She also alleged that the company only pays some employees P94 a day, far below the minimum wage of P250 a day in Metro Cebu.
When the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) decided to increase the minimum wage from P241 to P250 last October, at least one representative had said the board will strictly monitor compliance.
ALU claims that more than half of the 115 rank-and-file workers of Multi-Pack are affiliated with the union, and since July have been trying to assert their right to hold a certification election.
“This is a common attitude of employers that dislike unions and want to negotiate workers’ benefits among themselves, without a guarantee that the labor standards will be followed,” she said.
She said the lifting of the strike will depend on the acceptability of the management’s proposal during the dialogue with NCMB officials. (AIV/With EOB)
