VECO worker's union asks mgmt for dialog

CEBU, Philippines - The Visayan Electric Company Employees’ Union-ALU (VECEU-ALU) is asking the management to agree for a dialog for them to reach a mutually acceptable settlement and speedy resolution of their current labor dispute.

VECEU-ALU is the sole and exclusive bargaining agent representing the rank and file employees of the said electric company.

In a resolution, the workers said the labor dispute between the management and the union has reached a critical point and is counter-productive in the long term.

“The Union prefer a peaceful settlement of the dispute through dialogue with the presence of any interested parties, (i.e. the Visayas Clergy Discernment Group, Ecumenical Bishops’ Forum, DOLE, NCMB, etc.),” the resolution states.

It can be recalled that the union called-off their planned strike last week after the secretary of the Department of Labor and Employment assumed jurisdiction over the on-going labor dispute between the union and the management.

DOLE Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz, in her intervention in the labor dispute, has forwarded it to the National Labor Relations Commission for compulsory arbitration. NLRC will not sit as a judicial court but an administrative body charged with the duty to implement the secretary’s order.

The NLRC’s function in this case is only to formulate terms and conditions of the collective bargaining agreement of the union and the management.

Casimero Mahilum, VECEU-ALU president said that so far they have not received any notice yet from NLRC for the hearing of their case. (FREEMAN)