THE management of Kepco SPC Power Corp. (KSPC) warned officers and members of the Kepco Cebu Supervisors Association that they may lose their jobs if the planned strike will push through.
The management told the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) that the strike is illegal because it will affect the power supply in the Visayas grid.
There was no mention of the date of the strike.
NCMB 7 Director Edmund Mirasol told Sun.Star Cebu that the supervisors’ association filed a notice of strike last June 4, following the termination of services of Lowell Sanchez, the association's president.
But lawyer Alan Fontanosa, who represents KSPC, told NCMB that there would be “dire consequences” from a strike.
Fontanosa said that if the supervisors will push through with the “illegal strike,” they will be fired from their jobs, to the detriment of their respective families and dependents.
Risks
Fontanosa wondered if the participants of the planned strike are aware of the risks and liabilities of the activity.
Mirasol said that NCMB is trying to abort a strike since KSPC, which is partly owned by the Korean Electric Power Corp. of South Korea, operates two 100-megawatt coal-fired power plants in the City of Naga.
Fontanosa also said that the association has no legal personality to file the notice of strike because it is not registered with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) as a legitimate labor organization.
Federation
Sanchez claimed they are represented by the Workers Solidarity Network, an umbrella labor federation.
Sanchez said that KSPC fired him on suspicion that he organized a union among the rank-and-file employees.
“Assuming I really organized the union, I did not commit a crime because that is guaranteed by the Constitution,” said Sanchez.