PGMA Commends Conciliation Efforts

 

 

            President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo commended the DOLE for its contribution in the success of her administration.  In her message delivered during the Labor Day Celebration, she noted the Department’s commitment in creating a harmonious industrial peace climate in the country particularly in the area of conciliation and mediation.

 

            The president underscores the performance made by the Department in her message delivered during the Labor Day Celebration.  She said that this was made possible through the “harmony, teamwork and creativity” exerted by the Department in the first quarter of the year that enable us “to gain more than 600 million pesos worth of days saved from being able to avert a strike.”

 

            Before a labor dispute matures into a full blown strike, the NCMB corps of conciliator-mediators promptly and effectively delivers conciliation and mediation services for parties to reach an amicable settlement.   Various techniques and strategies are employed during conciliation conferences which sometimes take hours or ends up in the wee hours of the morning.

 

            As a result, the number of strikes decreased in recent years.  In 2004, 25 strikes were registered, the lowest ever recorded in 30 years while 26 strikes were registered in 2005.  From January until May of this year, only 8 have materialized into actual strikes which are equivalent to a 96% strike prevention rate, the same as the number of work stoppages staged during the same period last year.

 

            Improvement in the settlement of strike cases has also been noted in the past years.  From a settlement rate of 44% in 2004, the figure rose to 70% in 2005.  During the first 5 months of 2006, settlement of cases by agreement of parties has reached 67%, an increase of 11 percentage points from the 56% recorded during the first 5 months of 2005.

 

The concept of preventive mediation introduced by NCMB in 1988 has also contributed in the decline of strike cases.  Instead of filing notices of strike, labor and management conflicts are settled without the pressure or a threat of strike/lockout through the use of preventive mediation.   This provided both labor and management a venue to discuss their differences even before the dispute reaches a level wherein the union will be forced to launch a full-blown strike, and the management resorts to a lockout.

 

            Indeed, the Board has committed to promote and maintain industrial peace to every Filipino worker and it takes pride to be of service to them.  -   Tess Kinsy Fulay