Cepalco employees file notice of strike

By NITZ ARANCON, Correspondent

SOME 170 rank-and-file employees of the Cagayan Electric Power and Light Company (Cepalco) filed a Notice of Strike after negotiations for a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) reached an impasse.

In an interview, NicandroBorja, northern Mindanao vice president of the Alliance of Labor Union-Trade Congress Union of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) said the 170 employees are members of a union affiliated with their trade union center.

“They filed a Notice of Strike against Cepalco in June 24 because the negotiations for a new CBA between the management and the employees’ union reached a deadlock,” said Borja.

Borja said Cepalco’s management refused to give in to the union’s demands.

The union’s demands:

• profit shares to every employee at the end of every fiscal year;
• P2,400 increase of employees’ monthly salaries;
• additional Christmas bonus;
• inclusion of family members of employees in hospitalization benefits; and
• signing bonus upon approval of the new CBA.

However, Borja claimed the Cepalco management did not accept the union’s demands and instead counter-offered a P1,600-increase to the employees’ monthly salaries only.

“Dako ang posibilidad nga mag-strike ang mga empleyado sa Cepalco sa sunod bulan,”Borja said.

In a July 1 notice, Cepalco confirmed that the employees union declared a deadlock in the CBA negotiations for the years 2015 to 2018.

Cepalco said that under existing laws, both parties may bring the matter to the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) which may call the parties to a conciliation meeting to resolve remaining issues.

Cepalco said it was open to resume negotiations and was exerting its best to reach a mutually beneficial agreement with the union.

The firm also assured that the delivery of electric power service would not be hampered as a result of the deadlock.