CLARK FREEPORT—The supervisory union of the Clark Development Corp. (CDC) has voted yes to strike following the management’s continued defiance of the Court of Appeals (CA) directive to implement the signed Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
Members of the Association of CDC Supervisory Personnel (ACSP) garnered 52 yes votes and only three no votes for the strike to proceed. The strike vote was approved during the 20th anniversary celebration of CDC to show their dismay to the administration’s lack of sensitivity to the rights and welfare of the CDC workers.
Similarly, the rank and file union is also set to conduct their own strike vote on May 3, the end of the cooling period after submitting their Notice of Strike at the regional office of the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) on April 18.
With the two unions now on impending strike, industrial peace inside this freeport is now compromised, ACSP president Victor Barbieto said. But only because of CDC management’s defiance of the law, he added.
“They have left us no recourse, but to go on strike, because the present administration of CDC continues to violate our constitutional rights,” said Barbieto.
“We have (legally) beaten the CDC management, not once but twice already and yet, instead of implementing our CBA, they have closed their eyes and ears to our lawful claim,” he said.
The appellate court has upheld the decision of Accredited Voluntary Arbitrator (AVA) Froilan Bacungan and denied CDC’s request for a temporary restraining order (TRO) for “lack of merit.”
Associate Justice Celia Librea-Leagogo, who penned the decision, said “general repealing clause under Section 32 of RA 10149 did not repeal the Labor Code. Since there was no express repeal or abrogation of the provisions of the Labor Code, petitioner CDC’s reliance on the said general repealing clause is erroneous.”
She also said in the dispositive section of the case that “for a law to operate to repeal another law, the two laws must actually be consistent. The former must be so repugnant as to be irreconcilable with the latter act. This, the petitioner (referring to CDC) failed to establish,” she added.
Also concurring the decision are Associate Justices Franchito N. Diamante and Melchor Q.C. Sadang of the 15th Division.
Meanwhile, CDC Human Resources Department Manager Bonifacio Tarrenio said CDC will continue to uphold Executive Order No. 07 and the Republic Act 10149 also known as the GOCC Governance Act of 2011.
Bacungan’s decision favoring the ACSP was made on November 5, 2012 recognizing their constitutional right to collective bargaining as provided in Article XIII, Sec. 3 of the Constitution.
“We are appealing to CDC, especially to President (Arthur) Tugade, to implement what is right of and due to the workers as enshrined in the Constitution,” Barbieto said.
“President Tugade is a lawyer and he knows the law, especially the rights of the workers,” Barbieto added.
Both the ACSP and Association of Concern CDC Employees (ACCES) said in order to have an industrial peace Tugade should implement the rights of the workers as his gift during Labor Day.
The two unions also urged to implement the release the Performance-Based Bonus (PBB) of CDC as it was already mandated by law. “Hindi naman pera ni Tugade ang PBB, bakit hanggang ngayon ayaw pa rin ipalabas…dahil ba sa naka pending na strike ng kanyang mga tao?” asked one employee who requested not to be identified for fear of reprisal.
The workers union inside the Mimosa Leisure Resort has also filed a notice of strike because of the non-implementation of the economic provision of their CBA.
