Leadership by example

This bit of news reached me before the Holy Week break after employees of the United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB) sent me an e-mail asking me to help them elevate their case to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

You see, these employees are really looking for some "kakampi," people who can be on their side to support them. UCPB employees are not unionized so there’s really no one to protect them.

It appears that UCPB management’s cost-cutting strategies are now impacting on their benefits. While these non-unionized employees support moves to help the bank finally make money, this they believe should not be done at their expense by diminishing their benefits. It is, to them, a clear violation of their labor rights.

For one, they claim that some medical reimbursements they used to enjoy have already been withheld. While they were previously allowed to reimburse their expenses for maintenance drugs required to help them cope with hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, among others, the bank’s present management has now discontinued such.

There are also those who whine about car repair and maintenance privileges being held back. At least four of the bank’s officers have already written UCPB president Jose Querubin precisely to complain about bank management’s refusal to reimburse them for car maintenance expenses, but to no avail.

The employees say that from the looks of it, management’s cost-cutting measures are impacting those who have been in the bank longer and who are really in need of these benefits. They say that those who just joined seem to enjoy exemption from the need to save on bank costs. In fact, some of the bank’s newcomers seem to have no reservations flaunting their taste for top-of-the-line vehicles.

Only two weeks after joining UCPB, a high bank official availed himself of a Ford Expedition while his assistant got himself a Mercedes Benz. A newly-hired officer’s basement parking slot is said to be home of a new Audi A6. Two other officers who just joined UCPB are also said to be driving expensive Cefiro Broughams.

Shouldn’t these people be leading by example? Why discriminate against old-timers?

Sweet News

Lawsuits have just been filed in three separate California courts against 12 companies who either produce or use the artificial sweetener aspartame as a sugar substitute in their products. These suits were filed in Shasta, Sonoma, and Butte County, California.

The suits allege that these food companies committed fraud and break of warranty by marketing products such as diet Coke, diet Pepsi, sugar-free gum, Flintstone’s vitamins, yogurt, and children’s aspirin with the full knowledge that aspartame which is the sweetener used is neurotoxic.

The plaintiffs have asked for an injunction to stop Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Bayer Corp., the Dannon Company, William Wrigley Jr. Co., ConAgra Foods, Wyeth Inc., the NutraSweet Company, and Altria Corp. (parent company of Kraft Foods and Philip Morris) from producing, manufacturing, processing, selling, or using aspartame and are seeking a jury trial.

According to the World Natural Health Organization and California-based National Justice League, aspartame causes headache, memory loss, seizures, vision loss, coma, and cancer and worsens or mimics the symptoms of such diseases and conditions as fibromyalgia, lupus, diabetes, Alzheimers, among others.

They explain that aspartame liberates free methyl alcohol. The resulting chronic methanol poisoning affects the dopamine system of the brain causing addiction. Methanol or wood alcohol constitutes one-third of the aspartame molecule and is classified as a severe metabolic poison and narcotic.

In 1983, aspartame was approved for use in carbonated beverages. Today, it is found in over 5,000 foods, drinks, and medicines.

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