THE year 2011 may yet turn out to be the most peaceful year in the country’s industrial relations history as the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) reported that there was only one labor strike recorded from January to August.
Labor Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz made a strong impression that the country is enjoying its best labor relations climate ever which is conducive to investments.
The only labor strike recorded this year was that of the Supreme Steel Corp. in Central Luzon on account of unfair labor practice, specifically nonimplementation of collective-bargaining agreement.
Baldoz said the lone strike represents only 0.6 percent of the total 175 notices of strike/lockout handled by the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) during the eight-month period.
“The continuing peaceful industrial relations climate could also be a manifestation of the growing maturity of labor and management, who prefer to resolve their differences amicably through alternative dispute-resolution mechanisms, such as conciliation-mediation, instead of adversarial means like strike and lockout,” Baldoz explained.
Baldoz also said the DOLE’s NCMB is exerting all efforts to settle ongoing labor disputes and to prevent new actual strikes this year. Recently, the DOLE has averted what could have been debilitating strikes—one at the Coca-Cola Bottlers Philippines Inc. in Bacolod City and the other at the Seaman Trade Center in Cebu City.
“The efficacy of the DOLE’s labor conciliation and settlement system has again preserved more jobs and maintained a stable and just climate of industrial relations in the region,” Baldoz said, adding that the fast resolution of the two labor cases was an offshoot of the single-entry approach/free legal aid and voluntary arbitration services (Sena/Flavas) mechanism.
In a report to Baldoz, Undersecretary for Labor Relations Hans Leo Cacdac said the regional NCMB had settled the cases involving ordinary workers’ groups, which sought NCMB’s assistance on their disputes against their respective employers.
The case at the Coca-Cola Bottlers Philippines Inc. was resolved within a 30-day settlement period, consistent with Sena’s objective for a faster, yet, just and inexpensive arbitration of labor differences as both parties agreed to settle the case on July 19, after only two conciliation-mediation conferences.
The NCMB exerted the same proactive conciliation and mediation efforts in resolving the labor dispute between contending parties at the Seaman Trade Center in Cebu City.
The dispute arose when the Seaman Trade Center Employees Union, composed of 16 members, filed a Notice of Strike, citing unfair labor practice, allegedly for requiring the employees not to join the union and the termination of four employees.
Cacdac said the NCMB conducted a series of conciliation conferences until the parties agreed to a settlement on July 25 under which three of the terminated workers received their separation benefits amounting to P72,000, while the other worker decided to consider to elevate the case to another forum.
“DOLE records show that the number of strike incidents registered from 1988 to 2010 represented about 9 percent of the total 20,418 notices handled by the NCMB over the last 23 years, making this year’s recorded strike incident a historic feat,” the labor chief explained.
Baldoz recalled that it was in 2007, after so many years, that the number of strike incidents went down to single-digit mark with six strike incidents recorded. In 2008 there were five strikes registered, four in 2009, and eight in 2010.
She added that like strike incidents, notices of strikes/lockout, and preventive mediation cases filed at the DOLE are also experiencing remarkable decline in numbers.
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By: Claudeth Mocon
Source: Business Mirror, Sept. 17, 2011
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