The National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) debunked the allegation of a labor consultant of Anita’s Home Bakeshop that the board has been “playing politics” in handling the labor dispute in the company.
NCMB regional director Edmund Mirasol said he has not been “playing politics” when it attended to the notice of strike filed by the Anita’s Home Bakeshop Workers Union (AHBWU), which is affiliated with the Alliance of Nationalist and Genuine Labor Organization (ANGLO) and the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) labor group.
Mirasol reacted to the accusations of Emmanuel Cañete, labor consultant of Anita’s, who was reported to have assailed NCMB and the Department of Labor and Employment for entertaining the notice of strike of the workers union even if there is Anita’s Home Bakeshop Inc. Employees Union (AHBIEU), the “first and real union of the company.”
Cañete said that the NCMB and the DOLE should have rejected the workers’ union (AHBWU) notice because the employees union (AHBIEU), headed by Gilberto Burog, has been the existing labor group of the company since 1986.
Mirasol countered that his office is not the proper venue to decide on which between the AHBWU and the AHBIEU is the rightful union of Anita’s.
The notice of the workers union was accepted after it was filed last May because the group had submitted to the NCMB the registration papers to show it legal existence. “Our agency acknowledged the existence of both unions; as to who is rightful or not, I don’t want to preempt the decision of the mediation arbiter,” Mirasol said.
The issue on records of both unions is currently being considered by DOLE, said Mirasol, adding that what the NCMB handles are some issues, mentioned in the notice, which are under the agency’s jurisdiction.
The new development on the labor dispute is the laying down, for the meantime, the issue on the notice and the submitting of the case for preventive mediation under DOLE, Mirasol said.
Elpedio Caterbas, federation president of ANGLO, said that DOLE and NCMB are their best hopes for advocating the labor cause, as mandated by the labor laws.
In a press release, Caterbas said the controversial statement made by Cañete reflected the management’s anger over the findings, favorable to the workers union, attained during the meeting earlier with the Tripartite Industrial Peace Council-Cebu.
Any legitimate labor organization can file at the NCMB a notice of strike whenever there is evidence to show acts of unfair labor practice done by the employer against the employees.
Valentino Dagupan, president of AHBW-ANGLO-KMU, said that, pending petition for certification of election filed at the DOLE office, the issue behind the labor row was the deceitful act performed by the “pseudo-union” recognized by the management.
Last January, 19 regular ranked-and-file employees of Anita’s went to DOLE to raise their fear of loss of their security of tenure after learning of management plans to replace them with contractuals. DOLE advised them in turn to organize themselves into a union to gain a legal personality in fighting for their cause.
These employees later formed the AHBW-ANGLO-KMU and submitted its documents for registration at DOLE on April 22. Days later, the company reportedly organized another union to counter the AHBW, Dagupan said. — Ferliza C. Contratista/RAE