Pampanga steel workers strike settled

THE Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on Tuesday said there was only one labor strike or work stoppage during the first three months or the first quarter of this year.

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said the DOLE is optimistic that the peaceful industrial climate in the country will further improve as the lone first quarter strike, which involved the workers of Supreme Steel in Pampanga, has also been settled.

Baldoz said the Department’s National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB), during the said quarter, had disposed of 17 labor disputes through voluntary arbitration.

Based on the report of NCMB Executive Director Reynaldo Ubaldo, 17 cases were part of the 94 arbitration cases the NCMB handled between January and March 7, 2011, including 69 cases carried over from 2010.

“The monetary award for the 17 disposed cases amounted to P25.8 million benefiting seven workers,” Baldoz said.

Ubaldo reported that the NCMB received only one notice of strike during the first week of March, bringing to 39 the total cases filed since January. Thirty-four of these cases were carry-over from last year.

“The Board handled 73 notices of strike/lockouts during the reporting period. No work stoppage was declared during the first week of March,” he said.–ROMMEL C. LONTAYAO, Manila Times