NLRC Visayas top performer for 2011 as VECO Union questions ruling on union busting, illegal dismissal case

CEBU, Philippines - For five consecutive years, the National Labor Relations Commission-Visayas is recognized as the best performing division among eight other divisions nationwide.

NLRC-Visayas presiding commissioner Violeta Bantug said they will be again recognized during the Mid-year performance assessment ceremony in Manila on the first week of August with NLRC Chairman Gerardo Nograles to hand over the award.

“Among the eight divisions, we are number one in terms of disposition of cases. We have the least number of pending cases as of the first half of this year,” Bantug told The FREEMAN.

She said they learned of the matter after being furnished with a copy of the summary of report that revealed NLRC-Visayas’ accomplishment.

Bantug said NLRC-Visayas is the seventh division nationwide. They handle cases that are elevated to them by the three Regional Arbitration Branches (RAB), regions 6, 7, and 8.

“And we have actually maintained our standing for the past five years. Always number one since 2007,” she added, attributing the success to Nograles, the former presiding commissioner of NLRC-Visayas.

“During their time they used to have almost 2000 case load and of course reduced. When I came in, I inherited a very manageable load so we were able to maintain from that then on. It was actually the time of Nograles, siya ang naka-reduce,” she said.

She also attributed the accomplishment to Commissioner on Labor Aurelio Menzon who has been at division even before her.

“For being the topnotcher for the past five years, i-attribute sad namo likewise to the leadership and managerial skills of presiding commissioner Bantug. The overall leadership, overall vision and dynamism of the entire institution is attributable to Nograles,” Menzon said.

The commissioner on Management of the tripartite NLRC-Visayas is Julie Rendoque.

Bantug said that out of over 1,100 cases that they have reviewed from January 1 to June 30 this year, 886 of them have been disposed, the most number of cases solved nationwide. Most of the cases are on illegal dismissal and labor standards violations.

The second division and the third division respectively followed in terms of accomplishment, she said.

Bantug said a separate year-end performance assessment is also done every year which they have also been topping.

Meanwhile, the Visayan Electric Company Employees Union-ALU-TUCP is strongly protesting the decision of the NLRC Seventh Division dismissing its complaints against VECO for union busting and illegal dismissal.

“The decision is very unfair,” said VECOEU-ALU local union President Casmero Mahilum. The group picketed at the NLRC-Seventh Division yesterday.

In a decision dated June 30, 2011, the NLRC Seventh Division declared that Mahilum’s termination was legal, as well as the non-compliance of the management of the grievance procedure as stipulated under their existing Collective Bargaining Agreement.

VECO spokesperson Ethel Natera said the VECO management respects the NLRC decision. 

“We are happy that the decision affirms that VECO’s practices have always been consistent with the CBA and labor laws,” Natera said in a statement.

In a separate statement, Mahilum cited the “conflicting” provisions in the CBA, particularly Article III, Sections 1 & 2 and Article XIV, Section 13, as well as the NLRC’s alleged disregard of the Step by Step process in the Grievance Procedure relating to the investigation of complaints or grievances affecting Company-Union or Company-Worker relations.

He said that Sections 1 & 2, Article III and Article XIV, Section 14 of the CBA provide for the grounds for suspending or dismissing the employees while Article XVII, Section 4 of the CBA provides for the procedure in investigating complaints or alleged infractions of Company rules and regulations.  

The NLRC has ruled that in case of conflict between general and specific provisions in the CBA, the latter shall prevail. In the same ruling, the NLRC regarded the Grievance Procedure as general provision and the grounds for disciplinary actions as specific provisions.

Mahilum contended that the NLRC erroneously interpreted such provisions as conflicting when, in fact, there is no conflict of the said provisions.

The NLRC decision, Mahilum said could give a dangerous signal to VECO Management to continue violating the grievance procedures which could result to widespread suspension and termination of active Union members especially the union officers critical to management policies against labor.

Union members feared that with the NLRC decision, the management will again resurrect the administrative investigations against the union officers which could lead to another wave of suspension and termination and eventually to ultimate union busting. — (FREEMAN)