Firm employees hold election

CEBU, Philippines - More than 2,400 rank and file employees of Carmen Copper Corporation, the country’s biggest mining firm in Toledo City, conducted a union certification election yesterday to determine who will be recognized as the legitimate labor union of the company.

The workers were tasked to vote either for the Panaghiusa sa Mamumuo sa Carmen Copper Corporation-Alliance of Genuine Labor Organization (PAMCC-AGLO) or the Carmen Copper  Workers Labor Organization, or neither between the two unions.

Dennis Derige, organizer of  AGLO Visayas and Mindanao said that as of 5 p.m. yesterday, 80 percent of the workers have already casted their votes.

Derige said they are optimistic that their union will win the election, which was expected to be finished by late in the evening last night.

To recall, PAMCC-AGLO filed a notice of strike against the company last February and refiled the same notice before the National Conciliation and Mediation Board-7 last April 7, amid allegations on the company’s alleged union busting.

The management, however, contended that PAMCC-AGLO is no longer the company’s employees union in view of the decision of Labor and Employment secretary Rosalinda Baldoz last March, designating PAMCC-AGLO as an administrator of the collective bargaining agent and no longer the sole representative to the CBA. — Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon/NSA (FREEMAN)