Iligan City- 500 workers walked out of the Global Steel Philippines, Incorporated (GSPI), the former National Steel Corporation, this city, owned by Mittal family, an Indian National, of Global Steel Holdings Co..
The plant operations were totally paralyzed right after a mediation conference on February 15, 2010 conducted by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to resolve issues on non compliance of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA); unpaid salaries and wages; non-payment of 13th month benefits of 2009 as mandated under PD 851; non-remittances of SSS, Philhealth and Pag-ibig premiums; non compliance of safety standards; non payment of overtime premiums for six months; and non compliance of environmental standards on industrial waste disposal that causes allege fish kills in Iligan Bay.
During the mediation conference, the management of GSPI managed by the Indian Nationals, did not commit to comply all of those obligations to settle the labor dispute that triggered the mass walkout of the workers. The workers stopped the operations of the plant and go out in their workplaces and staged a mass action outside the plant. Labor experts said that it is a wild cat strike, a normal reaction of the workers whose rights were grossly violated by the management. The GSPI management only wanted the workers to go back to work without any commitments or compromise agreement to resolve the issues.
Mr. Elmer Nelson V. Nayon, President of the Global Steel Labor Union, said that the workers are now in danger situation struggling in their workplaces inside the plant of poor maintenance and safety by no provisions of new machine parts and safety apparels to the workers.
The management is insensitive to purchase new parts for maintenance instead they will only utilize parts from other machines. Rotten cables of overhead cranes still in use to lift hundreds of tons of steel products endanger the workers on the ground. Nayon said that the mass action is an individual decision of the workers and it snowballed spontaneously to other workers with the same feeling of redress of their grievances against the management.
A dialogue was called by the office of the City Mayor Lawrence Cruz, on February 16, 2010, between the GSPI management and workers with the same talking points of the unresolved labor issues and without any development, in response, the workers continued their mass actions.
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) continued of doing their best to resolve the labor dispute despite of the failed mediation in the previous conferences. However, the Global workers questioning the 25 percent of their 13th month pay for 2009 was released by the Global management through the office of the DOLE Iligan office.
The GSPI workers is now calling for interventions of President Arroyo to help resolve the labor dispute and to penalize the management of the Global Steel Corporation for the violations they committed. Nayon said that the Indian company is flagrantly violating Philippine Labor and economic laws since it took over in year 2004 up to the present on the pretext of alleged liquidity problems and profitability issues by the abusive Indian investors in collaboration with the corrupt government officials.
PHILIP JAMES MONGAYA TREMEDAL
OR E-MAIL ME : pjtremedal@gmail.com
visit my website: www.pag-enews.tk
No comments:
Post a Comment