PLDT union says ‘financial package’ was forced upon some employees

The 2,300-strong PLDT rank-and-file union Manggagawa sa Komunikasyon ng Pilipinas (MKP)  is seeking a meeting with the management to clarify certain issues regarding the company’s ongoing manpower reduction, including its “compensation program,” which was said to have been forced upon some employees.

Arthur Castillo, MKP secretary-general, said only 626 members of the MKP had availed themselves of the compensation program offered by the PLDT management.

PLDT announced last week that a total of 850 of its employees took advantage of the financial package.

The Gabay ng Union sa Telekomunikasyon ng mga Superbisor (Guts), another PLDT labor union, said 467 of its members had, likewise, taken advantage of the management package, according to Charlie Arevalo, Guts president. The union has a total workforce of 3,886.

“We wanted to clarify if the 626 from our group are already included in the 850 announced by the management because we learned that more than 400 from Guts availed themselves of the package, as well. But we are still seeking a dialogue with the management and, hopefully, it will be set this week,” said Castillo.

The phone giant said the 850 employees who took advantage of the package were the “net of employees from a gross of 1,100 to 1,200.” Those affected are employed by PLDT and its subsidiaries. They will leave the company on December 15.

Castillo said the MKP also wants to discuss with management complaints from contractual employees. “After six months, their employment status should be regular employees, but management refuses.  For every two regular employees, eight are contractual. These are mostly repairmen and linemen. For those who already accepted the package, we can’t do anything about that. But there were some who claimed they were forced to accept it, and that is what we will not tolerate,” said Castillo. –Lenie Lectura / Reporter, Businessmirror