No risk of brownouts on May 9

Kepco workers drop plans to hold strike  

CEBU, Philippines - The Kepco Cebu Employees Association has abandoned the strike it planned on elections day as negotiation with management on the renewal of their Collective Bargaining Agreement is now ongoing.

Dennis Derige, spokesperson of Partido ng Manggagawa-Cebu that is assisting the KCEA, said that in difference to the ongoing CBA talks, the power plant employees decided to set aside their plan to hold a protest action the company.

“Di na mi mag-strike on May 9. To show good faith pud sa management,” he said.

Earlier, he said the labor union may stage a strike on the day of the elections to compel the management to negotiate with its employees.

KCEA had filed its third notice of strike last March before the National Conciliation and Mediation Board-7 on the ground of a CBA deadlock. The workers filed their first notice in February last year and the second one in June last year.

Kepco SPC Power Corporation owns and operates a 200-megawatt, coal-fired power plant in City of Naga, Cebu and supplies power to the Visayas grid, mainly to electric cooperatives of Cebu, Negros and Bohol.

Currently, there are 86 employees on collective bargaining negotiation with the management, with 50 of them being union members.

To recall, KCEA banded with the Kepco Cebu Supervisory Union for members to go on a strike last May 1 and August 22. Both plans, however, did not materialize because Department of Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz assumed jurisdiction during both planned labor strikes.  (FREEMAN)