Complex’ Cebu labor-management dispute settled

MANILA, Philippines—The National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) on Monday said it has settled a complex labor-management dispute involving two furniture export companies and a union in Cebu.

In a report to Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz, NCMB Executive Director Reynaldo Ubaldo said the R & Y Augousti Inc. Employees Union-ALU-TUCP, the R & Y Augousti Inc., and Chagrin, Inc. had signed a compromise agreement at which the parties in dispute agreed to amicably settle the conflict.

The signing of the compromise agreement was witnessed by the NCMB’s Region 7 officials.

Signing the agreement on behalf of the R & Y Augousti Inc. Employees Union-ALU-TUCP were Christopher Basut, local president, and Michael C. Mendoza, area vice president, and Ernesto F. Carreon, legal counsel.

Yiouri Augosti, president, and Manuel A. Espina, legal counsel, signed on behalf of R & Y Augoust, Inc. On behalf of Chagrin Inc., Jay Evangelista, authorized representative, signed. NCMB regional director Edmund Mirasol and mediator-conciliator Arturo Kierulf signed as witnesses.

The parties to the agreement unanimously signified that “it is to the best interest of all parties that the labor dispute… and all pending cases between the parties, be settled amicably.”

Consequently, R & Y agreed “to pay the workers the amount of P6,700,000.00,” with P1,000,000.00 upon signing of the compromise agreement, and the remainder to be paid in specified schedules up to April 30, 2012.

Furthermore, the union and the workers agreed to, “forever release and discharge Chagrin Inc. from any and all claims arising directly or indirectly from the workers’ employment with R&Y.”

On the other hand, Chagrin Inc. “waives and discharges the Union, its officers, and representatives… from any civil, criminal, and administrative liability or claims for damages arising from the picketing, concerted actions,” and “will withdraw, dismiss with prejudice, cease and desist from further prosecuting [cases, and]… undertakes not to file and prosecute any other case.”

Finally, in keeping with their accord, the R & Y workers and all other persons picketing the premises of Chagrin to air their grievances, agreed to end their picket and leave the areas.

Apprised of the settlement, Labor Secretary Baldoz said the compromise agreement is a “win-win solution that would enhance workplace harmony and resume the build-up of trust, mutual respect, and confidence between labor and management.”

It has been earlier reported that R & Y Augousti Inc. had been affected at the height of the global financial crisis and had been forced to close its operations.

Its former workers, however, charged that Chagrin Inc., based in Pagsabungan, Mandaue City, was R & Y Augousti Inc., a “runaway shop” that had merely undergone a name change, transferred operations, and hired their former co-workers. This charge had been flatly denied by Chagrin, which said that while it had indeed hired some of the former workers, nonetheless it was a different, Manila-based company under distinct ownership. Workers then picketed Chagrin Inc.

Following the stand-off, the disputing parties sought the intervention of the DoLE and the NCMB to assert and resolve the dispute. The compromise agreement will now be submitted for approval as basis for judgment in the NLRC cases filed because of the dispute. –INQUIRER.net