VECO wants to deposit Mahilum's salary with NLRC

CEBU, Philippines - The management of the Visayan Electric Company (Veco) moves to deposit the salary of the union president with the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) while the labor dispute continues.

Visayan Electric Company Employees’ Union-ALU (VECEU-ALU) President Casimero Mahilum was terminated from service last October 28, 2010.

The Veco management filed its manifestation and motion to deposit salary before the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) the other day.

“Under the circumstances and considering that the records of the case have not officially reached at NLRC VII, VECO deems it appropriate to deposit with the NLRC the salary of Mahilum pending resolution of the dispute,” the manifestation reads.

Veco, in its manifestation, said it sought clarification from the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) on the payroll reinstatement order of Mahilum.

Mahilum pushed for full reinstatement instead of the mere payroll reinstatement that Veco wants for him.

The labor dispute is now with the NLRC after the labor secretary certified the case for compulsory arbitration.

For the Veco case, the 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 is merely to formulate the terms of the agreement between the union and the management

Veco denied that they are specifically targeting union members in imposing penalties on employees who violated the company’s code of discipline.

Veco said that disciplinary actions were not limited to union members but also includes confidential and other non-union members. Their violations include gross dishonesty and fraud, theft, physical assault on workers, unauthorized use of company time and misappropriation of funds, among others.

The union on the other hand, had accused the management of unfair labor practices. (FREEMAN)