Steady power supply despite looming strike

The National Power Corporation has assured of continuous power supply despite the looming strike by workers of Salcon Power Corporation in Naga City.

Last week, NPC president Cyril del Callar met with SPC president Dennis Villareal and discussed the impact of the possible strike by the Salcon Power Independent Union.

Following the meeting, NPC spokesperson Dennis Gana announced that Cebu and all the provinces in the Visayas will not have power disruption even if the SPIU pushes through with its plan to go on strike.

“We need to keep the three power plants inside the Naga complex up and running. This is our commitment to the people of Cebu and Visayas,” Gana said.

The SPC management warned earlier that the labor strike will threaten the already tight supply of power in Cebu.

This after the union threatened to shut down the Naga power complex by filing a notice to strike in a bid for union recognition.

Gana, however, said they have a contingency team of skilled engineers and workers from the NPC who will be deployed in the event of strike to keep the plants running.

The NPC had constructed and operated the Naga complex but turned over the facilities to SPC in 1994 in a rehabilitate-operate-manage agreement through public bidding.

The SPC claimed that the agreement assured the workers of an attractive package such that many stayed under the management of Salcon to work up to the end of the “cooperation period in 2009,” which was recently extended to 2012.

But on March 14, the SPIU filed a notice of strike at the National Conciliation and Mediation Board because Salcon allegedly refused to recognize their union despite an order from DOLE naming SPIU as the official bargaining agent of the company.

The NCMB is now trying to settle the labor dispute between the management and the workers to prevent a strike.

Antonio Corpuz, SPC senior vice president and chief operations officer said they have assured the union that they will look into its CBA proposal after the management’s query on its legality at the DOLE.

“As of now, we are studying their CBA. We are asking them to be patient and reasonable,” Corpuz said in a press statement.  — Wenna A. Berondo/LPM