LABOR Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz issued an order certifying the labor dispute at the Korean Electric Power Co-Salcon Power Co. in Naga City for compulsory arbitration.
Her order issued last Thursday averted strike plans by the union of Kepco supervisors and employees.
“We cannot afford to gamble public service and operations of vital industries on termination issues,” the labor secretary said in her order.
The arbitration will be handled by the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC).
Kepco-SPC generates one-third of Cebu’s 600 megawatts and also supplies other provinces like Leyte, Panay and Negros Island.
“Undoubtedly, by the very nature of its business, the electric cooperative belongs to an industry indispensable to the national interest, which in the International Labor Organization’s category, electricity services may be considered essential services,” Baldoz said.
Demand
Several conciliation meetings took place but no final settlement was been reached. The dispute stemmed from the demand of the unions for the reinstatement of Lowell Sanchez, KCSA president.
The management fired Sanchez for organizing a labor union for supervisors during work hours.
In her order Baldoz ordered the employees to return to work and for management to re-admit all workers under the same terms and conditions
that existed before the strike or lockout.
Disappointed
Baldoz said all proposed agreements made over the series of conciliation and mediation meetings should be adopted.
“I have to follow the order and stand with the union. This is not the way to resolve the dispute but we are obliged to comply,” Sanchez said.
Militant groups, who joined the union members in yesterday’s press conference, voiced their disappointment over Baldoz’s order.
“This has been our greatest fear because we have prepared for it. The government has no hand in this. This is a wake up call from foreign investors,” Partidong Mangagawa coordinator Dennis Darige said.
Darige said they will pursue NLRC arbitration because they also want to show they are a responsible union.