THERE was only one labor strike in Central Visayas in 2018, while there were 14 in the rest of the country. In 2017, the region had two labor strikes. National Conciliation and Mediation Board 7 Director Edmund Mirasol said Region 7 enjoyed relatively peaceful labor relations despite the increasing number of business and industrial establishments. Mirasol said Cebu housed several labor unions that actively participated in labor issues. “This means we have a peaceful co-existence between employers and workers,” he said. Mirasol said the demonstrations, pickets or mass actions that landed on the news were manifestations of freedom of expression guaranteed by the 1987 Constitution. He also said conciliation mediation was still relevant because labor cases increased by 32 percent, including those that fell under the Single Entry Approach (SEnA) program of the Department of Labor (Dole), from 2017 to 2018. In 2018, 8,000 workers received P14 million from employers through SenA. According to the Dole website, SenA is a reform measure the labor department institutionalized in 2010 “to effect faster, fairer and inexpensive settlement of labor issues.” Mirasol said their task is to promote conciliation mediation, labor management cooperation, grievance machinery utilization and voluntary arbitration. (EOB)