TransCo assures of fair severance pay

The management of the National Transmission Corp. (TransCo) has assured that a proper severance package will be available should the privatization of the transmission firm result in the retrenchment of personnel, a top TransCo official said.

Newly-appointed TransCo president Arthur Aguilar told a press conference over the weekend that one of his priorities is to see to it that the welfare of the company’s personnel is protected.

He said protecting the employees’ welfare is part of a smooth transition between the present TransCo management to new concessionaire.

"Aside from assisting in the selling effort or privatization, I would like to preside over the process of change in the organization," he said.

Recognizing that he has no power over the concessionaire, Aguilar said "there is no assurance that everybody will be absorbed once the concession takes over TransCo."

"The sentiment (to keep all the employees of TransCo) is there, you can’t compel the concessionaire to get everybody if they do not want to.  There is no assurance that everybody will be hired by the new concenssionaire," he said.

But Aguilar believed that "majority of those in the technical grade would likely be retained".

Aguilar said that at present, there is no existing severance package for possible displaced workers of the transmission firm. 

"We need to ensure the protection of the employees," he said. Right now, Aguilar said they are working out a possible increase in the compensation of regular TransCo employees to encourage them to stay put while privatization is on its way.

"We are asking the (TransCo) board to increase the compensation level.  We have a lot of linemen who are being pirated abroad, particularly in Canada and Middle East. These linemen are pirated not only individually but in teams. We need to do something about this," he said.