Veco will not budge on firing of union president

CEBU, Philippines – VECO Employees Union-Associated Labor Unions-Trade Congress of the Philip-pines (VECEU-ALU-TUCP) president Casmero Mahilum said that during mediation, the management remained steadfast in its stand not to reinstate him from service.

Mahilum was terminated from service on October 28, 2010 on the ground of lack of trust and confidence.

VECO spokesperson Ethel Natera said that representatives of both parties will have another meeting at the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) today.

“No concrete agreement has been reached. We will meet again tomorrow with NCMB. It’s business as usual at VECO. Our contingency measures are in place. Services will not be disrupted,” Natera said in text message sent to The FREEMAN yesterday.

VECO management has expressed its disappointment with the move of the union to go on strike based on the strike voting conducted last week wherein 156 out of the 238 union members and officers voted “Yes.”

VECEU-ALU-TUCP has filed notice of strike for union-busting with various vio-lations allegedly committed by the management including harassment, suspension of 21 members without following the grievance procedure and labor-only contracting.

As the last day of the seven-day cooling-off period for the union to go on strike ended yesterday, President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino announced he is leaving it to the labor department to resolve the matter.

Aquino was in Cebu yesterday for two events. He told members of the press that he learned of the labor dispute only five minutes before the ambush interview so he was not fully aware of the issue.

The President believes that the Department of Labor and Employment secretary is competent enough to resolve the matter.

“I cannot comment intelligently now on that issue cause I just knew it five min-utes ago. But our DOLE secretary will handle that and come up with a solution that is favorable for the workers and other stakeholders,” Aquino said. (FREEMAN)