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Friday, June 17, 2005
Mining firm workers given P81 pay hike
By Jane Cadalig
BAGUIO CITY -- Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company employees will be getting a total increase of P81 in their daily pay within three years in accordance with the directive of the labor department, reports said.
Labor Secretary Patricia Santo Tomas, in an order issued June 14 and received by labor and management officials Thursday, directed Lepanto to give its workers an increase in their daily pay of P25 in the first year, P27 in the second year, and P29 in the third year of their collective bargaining agreement (CBA).
With Santo Tomas's order, the mining firm will be spending P150 million in the next three years for the salaries and other benefits of its 1,690 rank-and-file employees
Lepanto Employees Union (LEU) president Ninian Lang-agan said union members were not satisfied with the labor chief's decision.
The union had proposed a daily increase of P29 in the first year of the agreement while management countered with P21 in the first year, P27 in the second year, and P29 in the third year.
In a statement, Lepanto management said the increase will be retroactive from November 17, 2004 and each employee will receive between P6,000 and P7,500 to represent the raise in their pay since that time.
Santo Tomas said in her order that the labor department recognized that the monthly average compensation of Lepanto employees is higher than the present levels in the region.
A company's rank-and-file employee receives P610 daily or an average of P15,860 a month. Lepanto management said other benefits being enjoyed by an employee include free housing or housing allowance; free electricity, water and other services needed in the household; safety and medical benefits; subsidy for elementary and high school dependents; transportation to and from the workplace; insurance coverage; kitchen allowance; relocation allowance; and retirement or pension benefits.
The value of these benefits, Lepanto said, is equivalent to P275 per day.
The company's resident manager, Augusto Villaluna, asked the protesting employees to report back to work.
"We would like to normalize our operations soon so I appeal to my fellow employees to report to their respective places of work and scheduled shifts."
Lang-agan, however, said: "We presented the order to our members after we received it, but they are not amenable. It is our members' wish, and not us (LEU officials)," he said, adding that they would not leave their picket lines.
He further said they would not report back to work unless Lepanto management withdraws the termination order it issued to union officials and until such time that it executes a memorandum of agreement to rehire the workers that were dismissed in 2003 when the union also staged a strike.
The union went on strike last June 2 following a series of negotiation deadlocks and despite the labor department's issuances of an assumption of jurisdiction and return to work order. (Sun.Star Baguio/Sunnex) |
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