Gaisano Mactan workers agree to dialogue with management

PROTESTING workers of Gaisano Mactan temporarily lifted their labor strike before noon yesterday, following an agreement with the store management and officials of the National Conciliation and Mediation Board 7 to meet today for a dialogue.

Associated Labor Union- Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) spokesperson Josefina “Joy” Lim said the lifting was an expression of “good faith” in the agreement of NCMB 7 and Gaisano Mactan management to try to find a way to settle the problem.

ALU members led the strike, which started Saturday, to protest the allegedly illegal termination of five officials of Independent Labor Association of Workers (Ilaw).

Lim said Ilaw is affiliated with ALU-TUCP, a claim that Ilaw president Juditha Villame and their legal counsel Dave Duallo denied. Both also accused ALU of union-raiding.

Duallo said the five people Lim claimed were illegally dismissed from work were not the real officers of Ilaw.

He also rebuffed the legality of the June 19 notice of strike filed by former union president Amelia Calam, saying it was not sanctioned by Ilaw members.

Lapu-Lapu City Councilor Eduardo Cuizon, who is the alternate chairman of Lapu-Lapu City’s Tripartite Industrial Peace Council, said because the labor row is already scheduled for conciliation, the City Council will no longer intervene in the conflict.

The striking workers claimed to have 40 members, but lawyer Erlinda Boiser Ramos, counsel for the management — Taipan Development Corp., said there were only 13 strikers, who were already legally sacked.

Their services were terminated after the management proved, in an investigation, their failure to account for company properties entrusted to them.

Ramos had threatened to file an injunction suit against ALU-TUCP, insisting that the latter has no legal personality to lead the labor strike since it is not affiliated with Ilaw.

Duallo earlier said he will file before the Department of Labor and Employment 7 today a complaint against ALU-TUCP for union-raiding, adding that Ilaw has a collective bargaining agreement with Taipan that is valid until March 2009.

He also warned that any Gaisano Mactan employee who will join the strike will risk dismissal from work. (AIV) –Sun Star