Over 8,000 workers affected by strikes

More than 8,000 workers could lose their jobs due to labor disputes in various commercial establishments nationwide, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) reported yesterday.

Acting Labor Secretary Manuel Imson, however, assured the labor sector that government conciliators have undertaken appropriate measures to resolve all pending labor disputes and that the business climate in the country remains stable.

Records from the DOLE-National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) showed that 8,137 workers were affected by 25 strikes recorded in the first nine months of the year. This figure represents an 80-percent increase compared to the 4,525 workers involved in strikes during the same period last year. The number of strikes also rose by 32 percent from 19 last year.

Imson insisted that the country’s industrial relations climate remained stable, with the government continuously exerting efforts to settle labor disputes in various commercial firms all over the Philippines.

He said that in the first nine months of the year, the number of notices of strike filed before the NCMB dropped by 11 percent to 384 cases this year from 430 cases a year ago.

Imson said workers affected by these notices of strike went down from 99,284 to 98,196 while the settlement rate of notices of strike rose by 71 percent.

"Over 6,000 workers received P905 million in monetary benefits as a result of settlement of strike notices involving bargaining deadlocks while separation (payments) of P67 million were granted to 3,035 workers," he said.

Imson added that DOLE is currently holding conciliation talks in an effort to settle the disputes and possibly negotiate for the re-employment of displaced workers.