VECO urged: Allow mediation

CEBU, Philippines - A consumer group in Cebu has urged the management of the Visayas Electric Company to allow mediation to take place to peacefully solve the ongoing labor dispute between them and the company’s employees union.

Visayan Electric Company (VECO) Employees’ Union president Casmero Mahilum said that SUGA, a consumer group supported their call for mediation.

SUGA delivered its letter request to the VECO main office in Banilad yesterday but the management refused to accept it.

It is the position of the power utility firm to proceed with the compulsory arbitration believing that conciliation and mediation outside the legal confines of compulsory arbitration would be unruly.

VECOEU had filed an urgent motion before the office of the secretary of labor to direct the management from further violating the status quo order that the Department of Labor and Employment has issued on November 10, 2010.

According to Mahilum, VECO management continues to violate the order. The union earlier filed a notice of strike but was forced to call off the protest after Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz assumed jurisdiction over the issue.

Baldoz referred the ongoing dispute to the National Labor Relations Commission for compulsory arbitration. Baldoz also ordered the payroll reinstatement of Mahilum who was previously terminated by the company.

The union has accused VECO management of union-busting, harassment and labor only contracting.   (FREEMAN NEWS)