Striking workers in a German-owned factory temporarily back to work!

UPDATE #3:

On March 3, 2000, a conciliation conference at the central office in Manila of the National Conciliation and Mediation Board was held. The meeting was a very long one from 2:00 PM to 7:00 PM. The representatives of the KACI stood firm in their position that they will not reinstate the two dismissed union officers. They said that they were willing to pay the two dismissed union officers with their separation pay. They also said that they have no other options but to close their operations should the strike continues.

On the other side, representatives of the union accompanied by WAC's two staffers, in an effort to settle the issue once and for all, presented the union's minimum position: reinstate at least the union president with full backwages, and the vice-president be paid by the company of his separation payment and other money claims. As can be observed, the union's position was already a step backward from their original position of reinstatement of the two union officers.

Eventhough the union have presented its minimum position, the company still would not enter into a settlement.

So, the negotiation at this stage bogged-down. It was at this point that the NCMB - Central Office's Administrator Buenaventura Magsalin came and talked separately to the representatives of the management and the union. Due to the pressure our internal campaign has put into the DOLE, in his meeting with the representatives of the union, he mentioned that he got orders from the office of the secretary of the Department of Labor and Employment to help hasten and facilitate the resolution of the KACI strike issue once and for all. It can be noted that the previous conciliation conferences between the disputing parties (KACI and the union) were facilitated at the regional branch of NCMB, in fact four hearings were held at the regional branch. After receiving our protest letters, the national/central office of the NCMB moved to have the jurisdiction over the labor dispute and the hearing that was held on March 3 was the second that was called upon by the central office.

Since the management would not want to settle even on the minimum position of the union, the administrator of the NCMB central office asked both parties to enter into a voluntary arbitration. Voluntary arbitration is a scheme and a process being initiated and encouraged by the NCMB to resolve a labor dispute wherein both parties can choose a voluntary arbitrator who will decide on the dispute.

The union representatives after considering the current situation of the union and the strike agreed to enter into a voluntary arbitration. Among the things that were considered were the following:

• That the DOLE is pressured to settle and resolve the dispute by whatever "legal" means  necessary. This means that the DOLE's National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) can issue an order declaring the strike as illegal eventhough the union's strike has undergone and followed all the legal and mandatory requirements before conducting the strike. There is a factual basis for this and there were actually a lot of cases wherein labor disputes or strikes of unions even in big firms were declared illegal by the DOLE and resulted with the termination from work of the striking workers. If this will happen, the union cannot be preserved and would be inutile. And there is always the threat that this can happen in the case of the union in KACI considering the current thrust of the government to protect the encourage foreign investments.
• The strike in KACI has been going-on for so long and creating so much economic difficulties among the workers.
• The preservation of the union must be ensured.

Based on these considerations the union representatives agreed to enter into a voluntary arbitration and both parties, the KACI and the union, came-up with the following compromise settlement:

• The issue on the dismissal of the 2 union officers shall be decided upon by the voluntary arbitrator.
• An adhoc grievance committee would be established with the union and management having equal representation to look into the implementation of other economic issues of the strike.
• That the union would lift the strike.
• That the KACI would withdraw its petition filed before the NLRC for a temporary restraining order and injunction order and its complaint for illegal strike at the Regional Arbitration Branch IV of the NLRC.

In conformity with the settlement, the workers went back to work last March 6. For the meantime, the union and the company shall have to present their final position papers and once submitted, the voluntary arbitrator is expected to come-up with the decision within a minimum period of one-month.

There is a scheduled hearing on March 13 and the final position papers will be submitted on this date.

In view of the latest developments, we would like to inform all our friends who have supported the campaign that the issue is clearly not yet concluded. We will be sending you a copy of the union's position paper once our legal officer has finished drafting the paper. For the meantime kindly stand-by for any developments that we will send to you.

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