Labor groups slam TRO on union polls

CEBU, Philippines - The Association of Genuine Labor Organizations and Partido ng Manggagawa slammed the temporary restraining order against the conduct of a union certification election at Galeo Equipment and Mining Company, a contractor at the Carmen Copper Corporation’s mine in Toledo City.

Dennis Derige, PM-Cebu spokesperson, in a statement said, that at the height of the casting of votes by workers whether to join a union or not, the Department of Labor and Employment halted the elections pursuant to a TRO issued by the Court of Appeals.

Edmund Cañete, the president of Galeo Workers Union-AGLO, said that the TRO was a last minute maneuver by “union-busting and union-evading capitalists to subvert their freedom to choose a union and improve their working conditions.”

A total of 285 Galeo workers had already voted by the time balloting was stopped around 5:35 p.m. last Wednesday, March 11.

Galeo is a contractor within the huge Carmen Copper site that hauls mine waste from the open pit mining site.

Derige said that 275 Galeo workers were unable to cast ballots and were disfranchised due to the TRO.

Derige added that the election dispute arose from an attempt by the Asiapro Manpower Cooperative to prevent the unionization efforts at Galeo.

He said that Asiapro is claiming that the Galeo workers are their members and thus exempt from unionization.

Butch Pena, AGLO national vice president, said that the TRO is a horrifying act by the second highest court of the land in curtailing workers’ constitutional right and freedom of association by declaring that Asiapro is an intervener to the certification election case at Galeo. (FREEMAN)