Friday, August 15, 2008 TRO issued vs. union strikers
A GOVERNMENT agency issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) yesterday to stop workers’ protests against Gaisano Capital South and Mactan, a day after the management asked it to intervene.
The National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) Fourth Division issued the TRO against the Associated Labor Union-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP).
Protesters left Gaisano South around 6:30 last night, about an hour after receiving the TRO.
Despite the protests, it was business as usual for both stores. While the strikers marched with their complaints outside the Gaisano South Mall, dance music blared from loudspeakers.
Commissioners Aurelio Menzon and Violeta Bantug signed the TRO that asked ALU-TUCP not to obstruct access to both stores, located in Cebu and Lapu-Lapu cities.
At least 27 strikers were named as respondents.
Taipan Development Corp. which owns the two stores, filed the petition for injunction, damages and attorney’s fees last Aug. 13. It said that unless immediately restrained, the strikes would cause them “substantial and irreparable injury” and disrupt order in the stores’ vicinity.
Taipan posted a bond of P50,000 for the TRO, which is good for 20 days.
As this developed, the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) 7 scheduled a conference between the Independent Labor Association of Workers (Ilaw) and ALU-TUCP on Aug. 19 to determine which of the two groups can legally represent the workers.
Lawyer Erlinda Boiser Ramos, one of the counsels of Taipan, said that the management will not recognize ALU-TUCP because it has an existing collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with ILAW, valid until 2009.
Ilaw counsel Dave Duallo has said they will file a complaint with Dole against ALU-TUCP for union-raiding.
Duallo said that the CBA was approved on April 28, 2004 and will expire on April 28, 2009 yet. Section 15 prohibits the union from joining any federation while the CBA is in effect, he added.
However, ALU-TUCP spokesperson Josefina Lim said that the CBA is defective and the union members wanted to affiliate with ALU-TUCP.
Lim claimed that majority of the Ilaw members decided to affiliate with ALU-TUCP because the previous leadership failed to convince the management to follow the minimum wage law.
Right after a TRO was issued against the protesters, dance music blared from loudspeakers outside the store, muffling their shouts. The workers began marching and dancing instead.
The TRO was handed to the ALU-TUCP at 5:45 p.m. by a team of security personnel.
Some of the protesters were close to taunting the security guards by sashaying against them and waving their protest placards in their faces.
“We will continue with our protest. The TRO does not mean that we have to stop our strike. It just wants us to maintain the peace and order situation in the area,” said Arnold Arcipe of ALU.
After dancing to the loud beat, protesters left the scene by 6:30 p.m. “We will return until demands are met,” vowed Arcipe.
When the protest began in front of the Gaisano South Mall yesterday morning, at least 10 police officers blocked the entrances to the mall.
They stayed for 40 to 45 minutes and, according to ALU officials, were armed.
“Our strike is very much legal. We have filed it and brought all the necessary papers with us,” said Jierrah Capili, education officer of the Associated Labor Union-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines.
Cebu City Police Office Director Patrocinio Comendador explained that the police went there to maintain order, but were under instructions to stay neutral in the labor dispute.
Supt. Paul Labra, deputy director for operations, supervised the team.
Police from the Carbon Police Station, Mobile Patrol Group and the beat patrol only stepped in when skirmishes erupted between the strikers and the Gaisano Capital security guard last Wednesday, said Comendador.
“It was a judgment call to prevent the skirmishes from escalating. They were not dispersed. For me, it was done within the bounds of police operations,” Comendador said. (EOB/EPB/With JST)
