Nearly 100,000 threatening work stoppage — DOLE

Nearly 100,000 employees are threatening to stop going to work due to pending labor disputes with their employers, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) reported yesterday.

Data from the DOLE-National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) showed that a total of 94,203 workers from 400 commercial establishments nationwide have filed notices of strike in the past nine months.

Based on NCMB records, the number of recorded workers involved in labor disputes from January to Sept. 15 went up by nine percent from last year’s figure of 86,405.

These workers grew in number despite the 10 percent decline in the total strikes filed by companies in the first nine months of the year compared to the same period in 2004.

Last year, NCMB received only 361 notices of strike from January to September.

The number of labor disputes that turned into full-blown strikes also went up by 41 percent from 17 strikes last year, for a total of 24 work stoppages in the first nine months of the year.

Earlier, DOLE Undersecretary for Labor Relations Manuel Imson said the department was still looking into possible reasons for the dramatic increase in the number of strikes in the past months.

"What we have observed is that most of the work stoppages recorded these past months were wildcat strikes and we are now verifying the reason behind this," Imson said. Wildcat strikes are those without formal authorization from the labor union.

But Imson gave assurances that DOLE is exerting all efforts to settle existing labor disputes in different companies nationwide so as to prevent any further rise in the number of strikes. — Mayen Jaymalin