Region 7 posts zero labor strike this year

The number of labor strikes around the country has declined this year with Region 7, or Central Visayas, posting a zero-strike record, according to the Department of Labor and Employment and the National Conciliation and Mediation Board.

Strikes even occurred in only three regions nationwide with the National Capital Region registering six strikes, Region 4-A with five, and Region 3 with only one for the entire year.

Labor Secretary Arturo Brion, citing a report from the NCMB, said the decline in the number of strikes was noted in the first semester of this year, with only nine compared to 13 over the same period last year.

The low strike incidence was sustained through the second half of the year with only three strikes for a total of 12 strikes, which is 54 percent lower than the 26 strikes recorded from January to November last year.

Brion said this meant that man-days lost due to strikes have decreased by 58 percent or from 109,579 man-days last year to only 46,134 this year. He was also confident that industrial peace would be sustained until the last days of this year.

DOLE's promotion of a system resolving labor disputes right at the plant level, and its alternative labor-dispute resolution system, involving administrative intervention to avoid dispute, have contributed to this positive development in the labor front, said Brion.

He noted that resolution of disputes at plant level resulted in sparing of about 197,377 workers from striking.

"The DOLE's administrative intervention for dispute avoidance aims to further reduce if not eliminate strikes by settling plant level disputes before they could escalate into strikes and lockouts," Brion said.

The labor chief also noted a similar decline in the number of workers affected by strikes, which dropped to 1415 within this year's January-November period from 8496 over the same period last year.

The NCMB report also indicated that the number of notices of strikes and lockouts filed decreased by 25 percent, with only 335 for the same duration this year compared to 447 over the same period last year.

Workers covered by these notices also decreased from 106,515 to 79,330 this year. Most of the notices were disposed and settled this year leaving only 64 cases undergoing conciliation at present. - Wenna A. Berondo