Monday, January 07, 2008 Sacked PNCC workers set to hold another protest
DISMISSED employees of the Philippine National Construction Corporation (PNCC) Skyway will stage another protest on Monday to push for their reinstatement in their former post.
Jose Apollo Ado, president of the PNCC Skyway Employees Union, said they would also press Labor Secretary Arturo Brion to order a return-to-work order.
"We are set to stage another protest action today (Monday). What we want is for the labor department to issue a return-to-work order to us," Ado said adding that the action will push through despite a scheduled hearing called by Brion for all concerned parties to resolve the issue.
At the same time, Ado also belied claims by the new Skyway management that union members already received "generous" separation pay and benefits.
He said the generous package were only for the managers and high-level officials. He said rank-and-file employees such as tellers, guards and maintenance personnel could only get up to P300,000.
"Three hearings have already taken place but nothing came out of it so what would we do," he said.
The dismissed employees have already staged several strikes including last December 31 or a day before the takeover and another one last week.
Last Wednesday, Brion ordered an investigation on the alleged illegal dismissal of the more than 800 PNCC employees.
Brion directed the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) to investigate alleged violations committed over the termination of the PNCC workers, as a result of the turnover of Skyway operations to Indonesian-owned Citra.
Initial verification made by the NCMB showed that PNCC employees were given notice of termination prior to the scheduled January 1 takeover by the new management.
PNCC Skyway Corporation president and chief executive officer Willy Cu belied the workers claim that they were not informed of the impending takeover of the Skyway Operations and Maintenance Corporations (ONM) whose investors include Indonesian-owned Citra Corporation as early as July last year.
"They have known it for long. We're telling them to re-apply or just accept the separation benefits that we will give to them. In fact, they remain in the payroll until January 31," Cu pointed out.
A total of 682 regular employees and 200 casual workers were affected by the takeover.
Cu also said the affected employees were given generous package amounting to 250 percent of their salary per year of service.
He added that this was far from the 75 to 150 percent mandated by labor laws in the country.
Chito Borromeo, officer-in-charge of the ONM, appealed to the striking workers to apply with them instead of holding protests.
He said they have already re-hired more than 300 former employees of the PNCC-Skyway Corp. who chose to re-apply.
"The TRB (Toll Regulatory Board) ordered us to have a hundred percent workforce for us to fully operate the Skyway that's why we've been telling them to re-apply," he explained.
Borromeo said they would prioritize the re-hiring of employees of the previous Skyway operator since they have the required skills in such an operation.
"We wanted a smooth operation and we know that they are fully capable and have the necessary skills as they had been operating the Skyway for several years now so we will give them due course if only they apply," he said.
He added that even the security guards numbering 60 employed by Life Guard Security Agency under a contract with the PNCC Skyway have been re-hired. (AH/Sunnex)
