Friday, May 02, 2008 Groups belittle TIPC initiative
MILITANT labor groups believe tripartism to achieve industrial peace is either a myth or an illusion, saying they've lost hope that the Tripartite Industrial Peace Council (TIPC) will do them good.
The Partido ng Manggagawa (PM), National Federation of Labor (NFL) and the Nagkahiusang Mamumuo sa Keppel Cebu Shipyard denounced the TIPC's "incompetence" in a rally 20 meters from the Lapu-Lapu City Sports Complex, where the council's Metro Cebu officials held their own labor day activity yesterday morning.
"We cannot stomach being fooled any longer by the slogan of industrial peace, as if nothing was wrong and everybody was happy and prosperous. Tripartism is supposed to reconcile different conflicting interests, but in the end it is the interest of the employers that prevails," the groups said in a joint manifesto.
In 3 months
But Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) 7 Director and concurrent Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity (RTWPB) Chairman Elias Cayanong disagreed, promising to come up with a solution to their grievances in three months.
Cayanong had to leave the TIPC program for a while to talk to rally organizers.
As he climbed up the multicab used as stage for the speakers, he was given a copy of the manifesto by Keppel union president Roger Ygot.
Aside from describing the TIPC as "inutile," the rallyist also demanded full protection of workers against petitions to cancel union registration and the scrapping of the law allowing work centralization.
"TIPC has lost its relevance. It failed to stop the onslaught of contractualization; worse it even encouraged it. If ever there was semblance of industrial peace, it was surely not as envisioned by the TIPC, but through the suppression of workers' rights to (hold a) strike through the preemptive Assumption of Jurisdiction (AJ) by Dole," the manifesto added.
But City Councilor Eduardo Cuizon, Lapu-Lapu alternate TIPC chairman, said the PM should be specific in its claim because the TIPC resolved many labor-management conflicts before they reached the Dole for mediation and conciliation.
Keppel
"We admit we haven't (been) able to meddle in the Keppel problem, but that is because the workers rushed a petition for mediation before the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB)," he said.
Mandaue City Vice Mayor Carlo Fortuna agree with Cuizon, describing PM's claim against the TIPC as an overgeneralization, sweeping and without basis.
He said Mandaue caters to over 30,000 companies, but those that experience or have labor-management disputes can only be counted with the fingers.
"Maybe in other areas, but it is different here in Mandaue City," he said in a separate interview.
The 278-member unionized workers of Keppel Cebu Shipyard had earlier threatened to break the more than 20 years of peace it enjoyed if the company continues to deny their demands for a P29 salary increase and additional P500 for rice allocation.
Rice
The workers currently enjoy a P1,000 rice allocation for every two months.
Ygot said the Labor Code provision that allows contractualization threatened workers' security of tenure.
In 2006, party-list Akbayan filed in Congress six bills to bolster workers' rights during probationary employment and allow self organization and labor strike.
One was House Bill No. 1351, which allows the union of the rank and file and supervisory employees to form a federation.
It also invalidates petitions for cancellation of union registration or the issuance of a temporary restraining order, if the purpose is to deprive the union its right for a collective bargaining agreement.
Yesterday, the center island of the road leading to the City Hall building was reinforced with several metal railings to prevent the labor groups from coming closer to the sports complex.
The rallyists were also closely watched by armed policemen.
Acting Police Director Louie Oppus said sobriety by militant labor group members has helped preserve the peace of the city's first hosting of the Metro Cebu TIPC meeting.
Solidarity run
An 8 a.m. caravan by Cebu City and Talisay City contingents to Lapu-Lapu preceded the TIPC meeting.
Fortuna also led the solidarity run from Mandaue to the Lapu-Lapu City Hall building.
Two hours later, the militant groups began arriving, waiving placards demanding a solution to the current economic and food crises, which they said have crippled the lives of many poor Filipinos. (AIV)
