Government cannot intervene in Keppel labor dispute

CEBU, Philippines - Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said yesterday that it is a management prerogative if Cebu-based shipping repair company, Keppel Shipyard wants to shift from ship repair to shipbuilding.

Remonde, who admitted that he has no knowledge yet about the ongoing labor dispute at Keppel, said that it is not the duty of the government to tell private companies how their company should be operated.

“If they want to shift from ship repair to shipbuilding, then that is the management prerogative. Government cannot intervene on that,” said Remonde, who took his oath as Press Secretary yesterday during the 34th Kiwanis International Asia-Pacific Convention at Waterfront Hotel.

But Remonde said if the 400 Keppel workers will be retrenched as a result of such a move, what the government can do is have the names of retrenched workers submitted to the Department of Labor and Employment.

Remonde explained that the government, through DOLE, will list all the retrenched workers and, in the case for Central Visayas, forwarded it to the Department of Tourism Secretary Joseph Ace Durano. The list will contain the names of the retrenched workers as well as their skills for livelihood training.

Roger Igot, president of the Nagkahiusang Mamumuo sa Baradero (Keppel Shipyard)-National Federation of Labor had said that Keppel is using the global crisis as an alibi to destroy the union and replace regular employees with contractual workers.

The union believes that despite the global crisis, Keppel’s business remains strong and any supposed business losses due to the global crisis is just an alibi to get rid of the regular workforce and bust the union. — Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon/BRP   (THE FREEMAN)