ALU accuses PLDT contractor of insincerity to solve labor row

CEBU, Philippines - The members of the Pro Tek Telecoms Support, Inc. Employees Union-ALU-TUCP vowed to sustain their peaceful protest action against the management until their plea will be considered and granted.

 Lawyer Jonas V. Asis, ALU-Central Visayas vice president, said the management has not showed sincerity to settle the dispute with the union members.

According to Asis, the union members have already submitted their proposals before the National Conciliation and Mediation Board to resolve the labor dispute. 

 "If they are sincere enough to settle with the workers, the management should have offered its counter-proposal.  But as it is now, it seems that the union proposal falls to the deaf ears of the management," said Asis.

 Jun P. Tagalog, ALU-CVR spokesperson, said that the union is only asking the reinstatement of its members who were illegally dismissed by the management.

 Tagalog said that the union members are not demanding of any additional benefits despite the management's alleged failure to fulfill its promises to the workers when they were offered to work with the Pro Tek Telecoms Support, Inc.

 The union members started holding strike outside the gates of the company's warehouses in Pier 4, Cebu City and in Mandaue City on September 17 after the management rejected the union's demand to reinstate the two union officers, three board members and two other members.

  "The said union officers and members were obviously terminated after they had formally formed their employees union early this year," Tagalog said.

 The ALU-CVR has chartered the Pro Tek Telecoms Support, Inc. Employees Union in February this year and was issued of the certification for the creation of the union on the same month by the Department of Labor and Employment.

 The 60 union members divided themselves into two groups to conduct the moving picket in the company's warehouses.

The union members include the drivers/technicians of the company, which is a contractor of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company in Cebu.

 The striking workers are the ones in-charge of PLDT's installations, repairs and maintenance of telephone and cable connections. (FREEMAN)