AROUND 21 employees of Vallacar Transit Incorporated (VTI), who were reportedly sacked for going on absent without leave (AWOL), expressed confidence that they will be able to go back to their former jobs.
The employees, who were escorted by their legal adviser lawyer Joemax Ortiz, attended the hearing on Tuesday, November 26, at the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) office in Barangay Villamonte, Bacolod City.
Representatives of VTI were also present during the closed-door hearing.
According to Ortiz, the hearing was good as it was "conciliatory" and the terminated workers were allowed to express their feelings before the VTI representatives.
He said the sacked workers are not asking anything else, except that they be allowed by the company to return to work.
"Whatever the Yanson family is feuding right now should stay in court. But in the meantime, the employees should not be dragged and affected by the current dispute," Ortiz said.
The lawyer said the workers have all expressed that they were only there to work and they are not taking any sides in the ongoing feud.
"If you terminate them, you are only destroying the company. They are only there to preserve the good name of the company," he said.
Ortiz suggested that the Yanson family should also end their disputes.
He also forwarded several complaints coming from the side of the sacked workers, claiming that they and their families are being prevented by security guards from riding Ceres buses.
"This is a transport business. Even if they are your enemies or not, they have no business to order them to get out. It’s very unfair," Ortiz pointed out.
The lawyer further added the second hearing was reset to December 10 as the VTI representatives claimed that there is a board meeting next week, wherein negotiations will also take place between the company and labor unions.
Should the case not be resolved, Ortiz said it will be forwarded to the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) Labor Arbiter and a resolution should be released within one month.
By first week of January 2020, Ortiz said they will know if the sacked employees will be reinstated.