PDI union, management sign new CBA

MANILA, Philippines—The management and union officials of the Philippine Daily Inquirer Monday signed a new three-year collective bargaining agreement (CBA) on salary increases and other benefits worth over P95 million.

Renato Reinoso, Inquirer senior vice president for sales and marketing, who headed the management panel, described as “generous” the CBA package hammered out after one and a half months of negotiations.

“At a time when companies are laying off people and the jobless rate is at an all time-high, we continue to be steadfast in our mission to sufficiently provide for our employees,” Reinoso said.

Michael Lim Ubac, president of the PDI Employees Union (PDIEU) and head of the union panel, said the deal “will augur well for the growth of the company, ensuring high morale among the rank and file, and management people.”

Members of both management and union panels signed the CBA in simple rites witnessed by Inquirer president and CEO Alexandra Prieto-Romualdez and employees at the company’s main office on Chino Roces Avenue in Makati City.

The agreement provides a substantial salary increase in the next three years; a yearly rice allowance; an increase in healthcare subsidy; an increase in longevity pay and an increase in eye care subsidy.

A considerable signing bonus was included in the package.

Multiplying productivity

Romualdez exhorted employees to “multiply” their productivity for the company to be able to fund the CBA for the next three years.

“We are certainly going to need to multiply our funds to be able to fund this huge CBA package,” she said.

“We can’t do the same as we are doing; we have to do more,” she said. “We have to work not only doubly hard but also triply hard to fund this CBA.”

Romualdez said employees and managers should “come together to produce excellent work and service” to keep the company on top of its competitors.

“We all have a vision. We want to be the most respected and most influential news organization in the Philippines. We’ve got competitors working quadruply hard to beat and knock us off the No. 1 position, and let’s not let them do that,” she said.

The negotiations took longer than expected. When both panels came to a deadlock after eight meetings, mediation was sought at the labor department’s National Conciliation and Mediation Board. After four meetings, the two panels finally reached an agreement at the Inquirer office.

Common ground

“Let us savor and cherish this moment—when we feel that nothing could divide us. That, despite our individual and collective differences, we have found a common ground to unite as one Inquirer family,” Ubac said.

He expressed hope that the “seeds sown” by both panels would “usher a new age in Inquirer labor and management relations for the next three years and beyond that.”

Besides Ubac, the union panel was composed of Ernie Sambo, Grig Montegrande, Noemi Melican, Christian Esguerra, Abigail Ho, TJ Burgonio and Norman Bordadora.

Reinoso, Rolando Suarez, Jesse Francis Rebustillo, Abelardo Ulanday, Nilo Paurom, Evelyn Escueta, Manuel Chanco IV and Neyla Espinosa comprised the management panel.

Lawyers who witnessed the signing were Cezar Maravilla for the union and Regino Moreno for management. –Philippine Daily Inquirer