By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga
A consumer group in Bacolod City, fearing its dire impact on the city and surrounding areas, wants the Ceneco Union of Responsible Union (CURE) to postpone its planned strike.
In a press conference at the Negros Press Club yesterday morning, Wennie Sancho, secretary-general of the General Alliance of Workers Association (GAWA), said the Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco) is currently facing “a crisis of unprecedented proportion.”
Sancho said, as an institution imbued with public interest, it is in great peril from the forces that are primarily ordained to protect, promote and advance the welfare of the consumers.
He pointed out that Ceneco is confronted with a financial burden of more than P280 million after KEPCO-SPC issued a notice of default on it.
The power firm is also embroiled in a labor dispute after its employees union filed a notice of strike.
“Ceneco is like a house on fire, someone has to put out the fire before it would become a conflagration and burn down everything. Despite the multiple problems of varying magnitude, the members of the board failed to address these urgent problems,” Sancho pointed out.
The union leadership will seek the approval of union members to hold a strike thru a strike vote referendum on Saturday, January 29.
CURE president Stefannie Montaner said once the yes vote wins, they will hold a strike for the non-implementation of the Ceneco management of the approved Collective Negotiation Agreement (CNA).
The strike will follow a mandatory seven-day cooling off period with the management.
Ceneco management has not implemented the approved CNA until now, which includes a five percent salary increase even after the holding of the Annual General Membership Assembly (AGMA) on September 26, 2021 and despite the intervention of the National Electrification Administration (NEA).
Instead, it has set a certain condition that they should attain a collection efficiency of 95 percent which is unattainable given the present situation, Montaner said, adding that no such condition was presented during the negotiation.
Montaner said they will hold a strike until the management of Ceneco implements the approved CNA.
“This could affect the collection, meter reading and other services of Ceneco since their linemen are also union members,” she added.
Sancho said they are recommending that labor union and the management should go back to the bargaining table.
“Mediation and conciliation proceedings must be exhausted by the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) so that a settlement/agreement could be concluded to avert the impending strike,” he said.
Sancho added that while they respect the rights of the workers to strike it would be impractical and disastrous at a time when Ceneco and its consumers are facing critical and dangerous times, due to the supervising events of the Notice of Default and Notice of Strike.
In a separate statement, Roy Cordova, coordinator for Negros-Panay of the No to Excessive Authority-Alliance of Dissatisfied Consumers Movement Inc., also appealed for “industrial peace.”
Cordova called on the Department of Labor and Employment that the labor dispute be submitted to voluntary arbitration/compulsory arbitration because the electric cooperative “is an industry indispensable to the national interest.”
He added that Ceneco serves the cities of Bacolod, Silay, Talisay, Bago, and the towns of Murcia and Don Salvador Benedicto.
“That means more than 200,000 residential, industrial and commercial consumers will be affected,” he added./DGB, WDJ