LABOR WATCH

Alsons Workers Hail ‘Victory’ 
but Warn of Firm’s ‘Manipulations’

For five years, 81 workers of one of the country’s biggest wood processors, Alcantara & Sons waited for justice to happen to them after their strike was declared illegal. The latest decision from the NLRC’s Fifth Division based in Cagayan de Oro ordered the company to reinstate the workers and give them their accrued back wages now estimated to be P17 million.

By Jonathan Carillo
Bulatlat.com Mindanao Bureau

DAVAO CITY - For five years, 81 workers of one of the country’s biggest wood processors, Alcantara & Sons, waited for some semblance of justice to happen to them. They had gone on strike on Aug. 23, 1998, after a deadlock in the negotiations for their new collective-bargaining agreement (CBA) with the company. They said they had been harassed at the picket line, attacked by the company’s security forces as well as the police. Some of them eventually died of various causes; their relatives were not sure whether the struggle would ever bear fruit. These workers’ lives were changed by their determination to fight for their right.

The first shock to them, undoubtedly, was the decision in 1999 by the Executive Labor Arbiter in the Southern Mindanao region, declaring the strike as illegal. The arbiter, Antonio Villanueva, ordered Alsons to reinstate the workers without back wages or, if that is not possible “due to supervening events,” to pay the workers their separation pay and other payments due them.

The Villanueva decision was neither a victory nor defeat to the workers, who belonged to the Nagkahiusang Mamumuo sa Alsons (Namaal), an affiliate of the Southern Philippines Federation of Labor. Just the same, the union filed an appeal asking a “partial execution” of the reinstatement order.

Alsons opposed this move, claiming that the Villanueva decision was still on appeal. The National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) then issued a decision favoring the company. The workers responded by filing a petition before the Court of Appeals, whose subsequent decision favored the workers. The company then brought the case to the Supreme Court, where it is still pending.

Resolution

In July last year, the new executive labor arbiter in the region, Arturo Gamolo, issued a resolution that ordered the payment to the dismissed workers of only their back wages, not their accrued wages, 13th month pay and other benefits. In effect, the workers said, the Gamolo decision favored Alsons.

The union had argued that when Alsons refused to reinstate the workers as ordered by the earlier Villanueva decision, that entitled them to the wages and benefits that they would have received had the company complied.

But Gamolo used precisely this argument to justify his order favoring Alsons. His order noted that the company’s refusal to reinstate became the “supervening event” that precluded the payment of accrued wages and benefits.

Last April, the NLRC’s Fifth Division based in Cagayan de Oro issued a resolution voiding the Gamolo order. The decision, signed by presiding commissioner Salic Dumarpa and commissioner Victoriano Calaycay, said Gamolo’s order was “fatally flawed.” The reinstatement aspect of the Villanueva decision “even pending appeal is a mandate of law. It must therefore be strictly complied with consistent with the constitutional mandate to accord full protection to labor,” the decision said.

It said Gamolo “gravely abused his discretion” and that his decision was “only a unilateral declaration… without any basis in fact or in law.”

Victory

Needless to say, the workers hailed the Fifth Division order as a victory. “The decision was based on truth and recognizes the workers’ rights under the law,” the Namaal said in a statement released last week.

Namaal said the Gamolo decision that was struck down was “anti-worker and the labor arbiter himself as a traitor to the interest of the workers. His decision was baseless, as it only touched on the back wages of the workers, which is not an issue because Alsons had earlier been ordered to reinstate the workers – an order the company ignored. Not only that, the company, through Gamolo, tried to circumvent the law by insisting on the payment of back wages, not reinstatement, which is at the heart of this issue.”

It said that the workers “are elated over the Dumarpa decision, which ordered their reinstatement and payment of accrued wages and benefits that is now computed at P17 million. It recognized the rightful demand of the NAMAAL workers, who have been waging this struggle for five years now. The workers have endured much sacrifice in their quest for justice. The Dumarpa decision is a reaffirmation of the justness of their struggle.”

While they commended the NLRC for the decision, the workers also cautioned the Fifth Division “to be steadfast in its decision, which is likely to be appealed by the company.” The union said Alsons is “undeniably a highly influential company that is capable of manipulating the country’s labor laws and justice system.” It cited the “strong connections” with the Arroyo government of Paul Dominguez, the former presidential assistant to Mindanao “who remains influential with the present regime and who is married to Rose Alcantara. Members of the Alcantara family have official connections with the government; one of them, Tomas Alcantara, Rose’s brother, has been a top trade official.”

The union said Alsons “can exploit these connections to the detriment of the workers, especially since the NLRC itself is perceived to be controlled and influenced by capitalists and that most of its decisions, except for a few every now and then like the Dumarpa decision, favor only the capitalists.”

The Dumarpa decision, the union added, “is a small victory for the workers but victory nonetheless. We are concerned that Alsons and the state could manipulate the system once again to deprive us of a greater victory and, ultimately, justice.” Bulatlat.com

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