Tuesday, August 12, 2008 Employees vow to resume strike
EMPLOYEES of Gaisano Mactan vowed to resume their strike anytime this week after the conciliation meeting initiated by National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) to settle the labor dispute bogged down yesterday.
Arnold Arcepe, representative of Associated Labor Union-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP), said that Taipan Development Corp., which owns Gaisano Mactan, must recognize the right of Independent Labor Association of Workers (Ilaw) which is affiliated with them.
Arcepe said that the Ilaw union officers demanded that the management order the sacked and suspended employees to return to work.
However, during the conciliation and mediation meeting, lawyer Edward B. Ramos, one of the counsels of Taipan, said that the management will not reinstate the fired workers because they violated company policies and by doing so, they will set a bad precedent.
Ramos also said that only the former employees joined the protests and had caused the company some losses because they blocked the entry of customers.
Ramos explained that the termination of the contracts of services of the workers was an exercise of management prerogative because the workers committed offenses against the company and it would be difficult to accept them back.
He added that the management could not negotiate with ALU-TUCP because it is not the union of the workers.
“We stressed the point that the management is not recognizing ALU as a federation of Ilaw because as far as Ilaw is concerned, it has no affiliation with ALU,” Ramos said.
He also accused ALU-TUCP of union raiding because there is an existing Collective Bargaining Agreement between Taipan and Ilaw as an independent union.
However, ALU-TUCP sent to Sun.Star Cebu a copy of the documents submitted to the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) 7 by Ferdinand Jumapao, the director for its membership and recruitment services department, including the names of the new Ilaw set of officers effective May 26, 2008.
Affiliation
Jumapao said that Ramos, lawyer Erlinda B. Ramos and lawyer Dave Duallo who claimed to be Ilaw’s counsels are lying to the public because the truth is that Gaisano Mactan management started harassing the employees after they learned that Ilaw, which has 54 members, is affiliating with ALU-TUCP.
ALU-TUCP spokesperson Josefina “Joy” Lim said that because more than 40 of the 54 Ilaw members signed to support their affiliation with ALU-TUCP, Duallo has no legal personality to represent Ilaw.
Lim did not divulge the names of those who supported their affiliation with ALU-TUCP to prevent the management from harassing them since are still working for the company.
She added that while the Gaisano management claimed that they have hundreds of employees, the others are contractual employees and promo girls.
“Kon iapil nila’g ihap ang mga contractual, di maapil sab na sila sa P267 per day nga suweldo. Ang kaso nagdawat lang ni’ng mga tawhana og kapin sa P100 nga suweldo
(If they include the contractual workers, they should also pay them the minimum wage. Sadly, these workers are only receiving over P100 a day),” Lim said.
In an earlier press conference, Michael Mendoza, ALU-TUCP area vice president, warned the management that the firm will be in deeper trouble if they continue to harass union members. (EOB)
