The number of labor strikes for the first five months of the year declined by as much as 75 percent, a development that the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said was made possible through its “effective” preventive mediation.
In its latest report, the DOLE’s National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) said of the number of cases, which had led to actual strikes from January to May, declined to three, compared to 12 in the same period last year.
Two of the said cases—Goodyear Steel Pipe Corp. and Ateneo De Manila University—were resolved by the NCMB in Metro Manila.
The case of Goodyear, which involved 70 workers, was amicably settled on March 6, while the case in Ateneo, which involved 245 workers, was resolved on February 23.
Over P1.6 billion worth of monetary benefits were awarded to affected workers in both companies.
The last of the three cases, Middleby Philippines Inc. was declared by the NCMB “without the requisite of strike on the issue of regularization affecting 133 workers.”
However, NCMB noted, the number of notices of strike grew from 96 from 112 last year.
In a news statement, Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III attributed the decline in number of work stoppages nationwide to their effective preventive mediation efforts.
“The settlement of the preventive mediation cases indicates the effectiveness of our counciliator-mediators in preventing any occurrence of actual labor dispute, which is a great element in sustaining harmony in every workplace,” Bello said.
Despite Bello’s affirmation on the quality of their mediation efforts, the number of such cases, which were submitted to NCMB from January to May, dropped to 357, from 383 in the same period in 2017.
Almost P30 million were awarded to 1,133 workers, who were covered by the said mediation cases.
“The settled cases from January to May 2018 were resolved within the process cycle time of 29 days,” Bello said.
He also attributed this to their enhanced implementation of their Labor Management Cooperation, which he said helped in the resolution of labor disputes in the plant level.
“Based on the same NCMB report, 3,077 out 3,173 or 97 percent of companies with Labor Management Cooperation were not involved in actual strike/lockouts, notice of strike/lockout and preventive mediation or voluntary arbitriation cases in the month of May,” Bello said.