A GROUP of workers, who recently lost their job at a university in the city, cried foul after allegedly being denied of their rights to build a union and Security of Tenure.
Around 12 p.m., Wednesday, October 18, workers of the Blue Collar Manpower Services Inc. (BCMSI) deployed to the Ateneo de Davao University (ADDU) held a certification election at the Freedom Park as they demanded that they be given their right to unionize.
This, with flyers and posters printed by them, as they speak of injustice through the words, "Ibulgar ang tinuod nga pamatasan sa mga nagdumala nga mga Paring Hesueta sa Ateneo! Nagdahum mi nga ilaha ming matabangan o mabuligan, apan nasayop mi! Sila diay ang magdaug-daug ug magtamak-tamak sa among katungod isip trabahador! (Expose the true colors of the Jesuits. We thought they were the ones to help us but it turned out, they trampled on our rights as workers!)."
The note also stated that they only wanted to hold the certification election inside the ADDU campus because this is their workplace and the law requires that they hold it in their workplace.
Under the Labor Code, a certification election means "the process of determining, through secret ballot, the sole and exclusive bargaining agent of the employees in an appropriate bargaining unit, for purposes of collective bargaining."
However, ADDU Executive Vice President Jeremy Eliab clarified that Ateneo's contract is with the agency BCMSI and not with the individual Blue Collar personnel who are under Blue Collar management.
"The agency ended its services October 15, this was scheduled long before as it was during semestral break transition," Eliab added.
With regards to workers' allegation of being restricted from holding the certification election inside their workplace, Eliab said they should hold it in their company's establishment as they were merely deployed to the university.
"They can be deployed anywhere by the agency - SM, ADDU etc. BCMSI is their home base. The insistence to hold it in Ateneo has other motivations," he added.
The university also released their official statement regarding the matter which included, "Parties are free to enter and rescind contracts when conditions are no longer favorable to them. This should not be seen as an affront to the personnel of Blue Collar who ought to air their grievances against their employer."
The University also expressed that they empathize with the workers, but it reiterates its stand that these personnel are employees of Blue Collar Manpower Services.