Only three strikes recorded in 2012

LABOR RELATIONS remain “peaceful” and “stable” as only three strikes occurred in 2012, the National Conciliation and Meditation Board (NCMB) said in a statement yesterday.

Reynaldo R. Ubaldo, executive director of the attached agency of the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE), said the number of strikes has remained in the single-digit levels in the past six years.

The three strikes, which occurred during the second quarter, accounted for just 1.4% of the 207 strike notices handled by the agency this year, Mr. Ubaldo reported. In 2011, two strikes occurred.

The first strike, at the Radio Mindanao Network in Region 11, lasted for eight days last July. It led to a three-year collective bargaining agreement (CBA) worth P36 million, the NCMB said.

“Although there were three work stoppages, productive mandays lost declined significantly as a result of fewer workers affected by strikes,” Mr. Ubaldo said.

The country also saw a 24% decline in the number of strike notices, with fewer than 170 notices of lockout or strike docketed by the government this year, the NCMB said.

The number of new preventive meditation cases also decreased by 24%, the NCMB said in the statement.

“Efforts of the NCMB to resolve labor disputes resulted in the facilitation of P911 million in CBA packages and other monetary benefits for 11,231 workers. Estimated savings (or the amount of salaries and production costs not wasted) as a result of the successful resolution of NS/L (strike notice/lockout) and PM (preventive meditation) cases reached P1.27 billion,” the statement said.

The NCMB also noted that there was less intervention from the Labor secretary in the adjudication of the labor disputes, with only 12 or 1.9% of the total 633 labor cases directly handled by Labor Secretary Rosalinda D. Baldoz in 2012.

Ms. Baldoz was quoted saying: “As secretary, I continue to exercise prudence in the use of the power to intervene in labor disputes. Very sparingly did I resort to the use of this power.”

In a related development, the Labor department and the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) signed a memorandum of agreement last week to enforce labor standards and promote “industrial peace” in the former US military facility.

Ms.Baldoz described the recent deal as a “convergence of the DoLE and the SBMA to strengthen and sustain industrial peace, promote compliance with labor and OSH (occupational safety and health) standards, and capacitate SBFZ (Subic Bay Freeport Zone) locator-employers and workers, all for the purpose of enhancing competitiveness, productivity, and growth in private enterprises which are the generators of decent jobs.”

Following the agreement, the SBMA was placed under the jurisdiction of the DoLE and the NCMB, especially in settling labor disputes between companies and employees in the Subic free port and economic zone.

“In instances of notices of strike and lockout and preventive mediation cases, the DoLE, through the NCMB, shall provide conciliation and mediation services in accordance with the existing rules and regulations in the handling of labor disputes,” the agreement stated.

Activities and programs such as the Labor Education Program, Productivity Improvement Program, Women in Development Program, OSH programs, Family Welfare Program, and programs on child labor shall likewise be implemented under the memorandum of agreement.

The agreement also requires the DoLE to monitor and inspect enterprises inside the free port zone every quarter.

A technical working group for both parties will also be formed to craft guidelines for the agreement. — R. J. N. Dy, Businessworld