Veco union moves to suspend mediation

CEBU, Philippines - The Visayan Electric Company Employees Union-Associated Labor Union is set to file a motion to suspend the conciliation and mediation hearing between the union and the management before the National Conciliation and Mediation Board-7th Division.

Union president Casmero Mahilum said they will file for the suspension until Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz will rule on their partial motion for reconsideration that was filed last November 19, 2010.

The November 19-motion is questioning why Mahilum was reinstated only in the payroll when Baldoz’s assumption order stated “status quo”.

Mahilum was terminated from service by the management last October 28, immediately after the union filed their notice of strike.

On November 10, Baldoz issued the order and directed the management to reinstate Mahilum. He, however, lamented that his reinstatement is only in the payroll.

Mahilum also complained that his salary was not even given directly to him but through the NLRC-7th Division.

The management and the union already conducted a conciliation and mediation hearing twice but the dispute remains unsettled.

Baldoz, in her intervention in the labor dispute, has certified it to the NLRC. The NLRC will not sit as a judicial court but an administrative body tasked to implement the secretary’s order.

The NLRC’s function in this case is only to formulate terms and conditions of the collective bargaining agreement of the union and the management. (FREEMAN)