Tension heightens at strike-bound wharf

CEBU CITY — Tension escalated in the bitter row between the Apo and its cargo-handling operators after the striking cargo handlers blocked the entry of delivered coal from the wharf.

Some 400 union members of the Naga Philippines Arrastre and Stevedoring Services staged a strike Thursday dawn against Apo Cement of Mexico after Apo management terminated their 15-year cargo-handling contract with Naphil.

Since the workers staged their strike last Thursday, management had closed the gates leading to the wharf. Management later secured a temporary restraining order from the Regional Trial Court that would allow Apo free flow of products to and from the wharf.

Naphil foreman Jojo Caia said that while the TRO allowed them to continue picketing peacefully at Apo’s entrance and exit, it did not indicate that management would do cargo-handling services.

He said that there was earlier agreement between Apo and Naphil that while delivery is allowed entry, hauling will still be done by Naphil cargo handlers after purchase orders are issued.

But until 6 p.m. yesterday, no purchase order was issued and Apo management would not let Naphil cargo handlers haul the delivered coal.

The strike at the cement plant was sparked after the company terminated Apo’s 15-year contract with Naphil as the sole cargo handling service provider. Naphil’s lawyer and president Austreverto Navales said that even if the 15-year contract with Apo was entered into with former owners, the Gokongweis, it is still binding and enforceable under Apo’s ownership.

Workers will have to be absorbed into the Millennium Engineering and General Services Multi-Purpose Cooperative. But workers are insecure about being absorbed in the cooperative because this is managed by the Chiongs, the political rivals of Naphil officer Paulino Ong.

Apo on the other hand, reasoned that they pre-terminated the contract in a move to free the company from Naphil that is associated with Naga’s feuding politicians. — Freeman News Service