Tuesday, August 19, 2008 ALU gets paperwork ready for raps to be filed v. Tomas
THE Associated Labor Union-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) is rushing the preparation of criminal and administrative charges against Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña for trying to disperse the picket line at the vicinity of Gaisano Capital South.
ALU-TUCP spokesperson Josefina Lim, however, did not reveal the specific charges they are going to file against Osmeña and where these would be filed.
She only said that the charges would be filed either with the courts, the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas, and with the Commission on Human Rights (CHR).
Lawyers
“The ALU-TUCP legal department is still consolidating all attachments needed and necessary for the filing of the cases against Mayor Tomas Osmeña. Definitely, these will be filed soon,” Lim said.
ALU-TUCP, one of the biggest labor organizations in the country, is retaining a battery of lawyers who regularly attend to labor cases.
Lim claimed that before the incident, an office under Cebu City Hall investigated the background of the protesting Gaisano employees and found that none or only a few of them are Cebu City residents.
Lim said that what Osmeña failed to remember is that relatives and friends of the protesting workers are Cebu City voters.
She also said that the labor sector theorized that Osmeña’s act was meant to harass the protesting workers because the Gaisanos are his relatives and are probably big contributors of his political activities.
“The question on whether the workers are Cebu City residents or not is not an issue. The issue here is the abuses of the mayor or which he should be prosecuted,” she said.
Trouble
On the other hand, Lim welcomed the announcement of lawyer Dave Duallo, counsel of the Independent Labor Association of Workers (Ilaw), that he will file a complaint with the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) against ALU-TUCP for alleged union-raiding.
Lim said that Ilaw officers affiliated with ALU-TUCP last May 2008 because the local union failed to represent the workers as collective bargaining agent. ALU-TUCP is planning to file criminal charges against Duallo for double-crossing the workers.
She said that Ilaw’s affiliation with ALU-TUCP resulted in the crackdown against the protesting workers. (EOB)
