Management won’t rehire union officials

CEBU, Philippines - Mining firm workers to proceed with strike vote against employer

Mediation talks between the workers union of Galeo Equipment and Mining Company - Alliance of Genuine Labor Organization and the management ended in a deadlock after the latter refused to rehire the 11 terminated union officials.

Due to this, union officials submitted their notice to conduct a strike vote yesterday before the National Conciliation and Mediation Board-7.

Dennis Derige, AGLO organizer for Visayas and Mindanao, of which the said union is affiliated with, said that since the management opted not to rehire the union officials, they have decided to conduct a strike vote.

“After which, we may conduct the strike voting by Monday to determine if the union members will say yes or no to strike,” he said.

There are more or less 300 members of GEMC-AGLO, the contractor within the Carmen Copper Corporation mining site in Toledo City that hauls mine waste from the open pit mining site.

The union filed a notice of strike last June 5, the day when the 11 union officers were preventively suspended after they failed to render overtime work.

“It is very clear that the management resorted to union-busting,” Derige added.

The union is not yet the authorized bargaining agent of the company after their certification election last March was halted by a temporary restraining order issued by the Court of Appeals.

The company was able to get a preliminary injunction extending the life span of the TRO, a reason why until now the union cannot proceed with the certification election.

Earlier, Edmund Canete, president of GEMC-AGLO said that the TRO was a last minute maneuver by union-busting and union-evading capitalists to subvert their freedom to choose a union and improve their working conditions.

The election dispute arose from an attempt by the Asiapro Manpower Cooperative to prevent the unionization efforts at GEMC, Derige said, adding that Asiapro is claiming that workers of GEMC-AGLO are their members and thus exempted from unionization. — (FREEMAN)