THE National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) has received 13 notices of strike from Jan. 1 to June 30 this year, which shows a 44 percent increase from the nine notices filed in the same period last year.
NCMB 7 Director Edmundo Mirasol said that last year, they handled a total of 24 notices of strike, 20 of which were disposed.
This week’s strikes against Gaisano South and Mactan drew extra attention when a gun-toting Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña confronted protesters in front of Gaisano South. No one was hurt.
With the remaining four cases from 2007 and the 13 notices filed from January to June this year, the total number of cases within this period this year is 17.
This includes the labor dispute between Salcon Independent Employees Union (SPIU) and SPC Power Corp. in the City of Naga, Cebu. The labor dispute in the City of Naga started when Salcon of Singapore sold its shares to Korean Electric Power Co. (Kepco), which some workers saw as a threat to their security of tenure.
Mirasol said that of the 17 cases from January to June this year, 12 have been disposed.
Case disposal is different from settlement. By disposal, what the labor department means is that either the case has been withdrawn or the secretary of the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) has assumed jurisdiction.
In a settlement, a memorandum of agreement (MOA) is signed, detailing the terms agreed upon by parties during conciliation and mediation meetings.
This, Mirasol said, excludes preventive mediation, where there’s no cooling off period and the matter doesn’t result in into an actual strike.
In 2007, NCMB 7 handled 21 preventive mediations.
From 2000 to the present, the Associated Labor Union-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) has the highest number of labor strikes compared to other labor groups.
Since 2006, the ALU-TUCP held four labor strikes against Celloom Furniture Corp., Rattan Pacifica Corp. and Multi-Pack Manufacturing Corp., all of Mandaue City, and Cebu Holiday Plaza Hotel in Cebu City.
The other strikes were conducted by Manggagawa ng Komunikasyon ng Pilipinas (MKP) against the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) which dismissed about 500 workers due to redundancy; and the Baruganan sa Mamumuo sa Skycable against the Cebu Skycable after a collective bargaining deadlock.
Under Article 263 of the Labor Code, the Dole secretary has the power to assume jurisdiction of brewing or actual labor disputes if, in his opinion, this has an impact on national interest or the economy. (EOB)
