Labor chief orders reinstatement of power firm’s union leader

Sunstar Cebu

CEBU CITY -- The Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) has ordered the Veco management to reinstate the union president in its payroll and the union to refrain from carrying out a strike.

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz issued the order last November 10 while the labor dispute between the management and union of Visayas Electric Company (Veco) is being resolved.

She placed the management and the Veco Employees Union under the compulsory arbitration of the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC).

Baldoz ordered Veco to reinstate union president Casmero Mahilum in its payroll.

This means that Veco continues to pay Mahilum his wages and benefits but does not actually allow him to work.

To the union, the labor secretary ordered it not to carry out its plan to strike until the labor case has been resolved.

The union filed a notice of strike last October 28 after talks over their collective bargaining agreement (CBA) bogged down.

Veco management has been assuring that power connection and other operations would remain unhampered because systems have been put in place.

Both the management and the union said they will respect the Dole order, which “refrains (them) from committing any act that will worsen the situation.”

Baldoz noted Veco’s being the second largest electric utility in the country with a franchise coverage of 672 square kilometers with a population of about 1.73 million.

“With this span of power distribution activity, any work stoppage in the company will adversely affect business and commercial establishments that rely mostly on electricity for its operations and processes as well as to household consumers which considers electricity as part of their basic needs,” Baldoz said.

Sought for comment, Veco corporate communications manager Ethel Natera said the management welcomed the Dole order.

“No physical reinstatement was ordered. The compulsory arbitration with payroll reinstatement was management’s final offer to the union. The latter rejected this and insisted on (full) physical reinstatement of Mahilum,” Veco said in a statement.

Mahilum, for his part, said the union has decided to refrain from holding a strike in deference to the Dole order while their case is being heard by the NLRC.

He assured the Tripartite Industrial Peace Council (TIPC) during a meeting Thursday that the union will respect the assumption order.

He said he would have preferred a physical reinstatement but a payroll reinstatement was still better than dismissal.

At least he could feed his family and focus on union matters, he said.
The company had fired him over his negative statements about Veco that he had uttered in public.

Mahilum said that if the result of the arbitration does not sit well with the union, they will bring their case to the Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court. (EOB/PDF/Sun.Star Cebu)

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on November 13, 2010.