THE SUPERVISORS’ union of PLDT, Inc. (PLDT) yesterday filed a notice of strike against the telecommunication firm’s alleged unfair labor practices as they held a protest outside the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) main office in Manila.
The group, the Gabay ng Unyon sa Telekomunikasyon ng mga Superbisor (GUTS), is protesting the alleged dismissal of 12,000 workers as of June 31, 2018, which they said has affected both the tenured workers and the company’s services.
Charlito Arevalo, GUTS president, also blasted the reported plan of DoLE to work out a “compromise agreement” with PLDT.
“Even if such information is fake or true, PLDT and DoLE must not enter into any compromise deals in behalf of the regularization of all the terminated 12,000 workers of PLDT due to DoLE’s cease and desist order,” Mr. Arevalo said in a statement.
PLDT issued a statement on Monday saying there is no factual basis to Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello’s comments that they were planning a “compromise agreement” on the regularization of the contractual workers.
Mr. Arevalo, who has been a supervisor for the company for almost 25 years, said they, the regular workers, “were the ones who (picked up the burden).”
He noted that the added workload has affected health conditions and some workers were also not allowed to file for leaves.
“Na-deprive ang basic rights ng manggagawa (Our basic rights as workers were deprived),” he told reporters.
Mr. Arevalo also clarified that the 12,000 workers they are referring to includes those who are “unlisted” as opposed to the 7,329 in the DoLE list.
DoLE Undersecretary Joel B. Maglunsod, meanwhile, confirmed that there was no meeting yet between Mr. Bello and PLDT.
“Walang nangyaring meeting,” he said to reporters in a briefing on Tuesday.
He added, “Bukas ang pinto namin sa pag-uusap but never compromise ang order namin (Our doors are always open for dialogue but [they] should never compromise our [regularization] order).”
PLDT, in a statement yesterday, said it has yet to get an official copy of the notice of strike.
“PLDT has been made aware of news reports describing the filing today of a Notice of Strike (NoS) by PLDT’s supervisory union… PLDT has not received a copy of any such Notice today, and reserves comment if or until after it is summoned by the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB),” the company said.
“In any event, the factual or legal basis for such a filing is not clear. There does not appear to be any ‘industrial or labor dispute’ between the Company and GUTS; the existence of such a dispute is an essential legal requirement to file an NoS,” it added.
PLDT also said claims of “alleged terminations by PLDT of ‘12,000’ workers is absolutely baseless, untrue and malicious.”
It explained, “At the end of June 2018, PLDT contractors affected by Secretary Bello’s regularization orders complied with the Secretary’s cease-and-desist orders against them, and ceased deploying workers to PLDT. Following the Court of Appeals Decision enjoining the Secretary’s orders, however, the contractors have since undertaken remediation efforts to normalize their deployments and services.”
Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has a majority stake in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Gillian M. Cortez

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