CENAPRO strike: Probable causes and implications
It is quite unfortunate that a strike has been staged in CENAPRO, while its Collective Bargaining Negotiation was still unfinished. This is a blow to the Department of Labor and Employment's zero strike record last year and in many years in the immediate past. Strikes are no longer a popular option for workers to take nowadays, whenever management would supposedly violate the rules, and especially in cases of actual acts of unfair labor practices, or deadlock in collective bargaining.
Well, this writer is a veteran in labor relations and we have experienced many actual strikes in those turbulent years of the mid and late eighties. Strikes can only be legally staged when there is either a deadlock in collective bargaining or unfair labor practice. In this case of CENAPRO, my reading is that the workers were made to work for sixteen hours a day. The Union allegedly staged a mass action in order to protest against those compulsory work long hours. When the protest was staged, management stopped the negotiation process.
Stopping the negotiation process might be considered by the Union as a virtual refusal to negotiate and thus a violation of the Labor Code. It may also be considered by the Union as legal ground to stage a strike. The management, on the other hand, may consider the Union's concerted action as likewise negotiating in bad faith. The two parties are currently being conciliated by the National Conciliation and Mediation (NCMB). If conciliation succeeds, then strike can be prevented. If it fails, then the dispute may escalate and both parties shall suffer. We should make sure that it won
In staging a strike, one Supreme Court held: "There is a right way to do the right thing at the right time, in the right place, for the right reason by the right parties .'' The Union must first file a Notice of Strike thirty days prior (if based in deadlock) or fifteen days for Unfair Labor Practice. Then, there must be a strike vote where the individual workers shall vote in a secret manner. The strike vote will determine whether the upcoming strike is supported by the majority.
Then the NCMB shall summon the parties for mediation and shall work doubly hard to make sure that the strike could be averted.
If mediation fails and conciliation is not effective anymore, then the case may be submitted to the Board of Arbitrators for adjudication. Or the Secretary of Labor may certify the case to the NLRC for compulsory arbitration. Our country can not afford a protracted labor dispute. We are about to enter the ASEAN Economic Community. And we must put our acts together, so that, together we can win in this region. Strikes may not be the answer to all our woes. But what matters most is that when there is an issue, we should nip conflicts by the bud.
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