Govt averts strike at BPI’s Cebu branches, forces arbitration

CEBU CITY, Philippines - The Labor department has averted a strike at Bank of the Philipine Islands’ (BPI) 32 branches and express banking centers in Metro Cebu, as it assumed jurisdiction over a dispute between the management and employees’ union, the second time it has done so this year. Octavio Alerta, vice-president for internal affairs of the BPI Cebu Employees Independent Union, said they had no choice but to follow the order. The union has filed a notice of strike, as it accused the bank of union busting following the dismissal of union leader Milbert John Dacayana. Acting Labor Secretary Marianito D. Roque took over the dispute on Monday even as marathon conciliation meetings were being held to resolve the conflict. Both the management and union were notified on Wednesday that the case had been submitted for compulsory arbitration before the National Labor Relations Commission. BPI lawyer Jefferson Marquez said the conciliation meetings on April 21-22 had failed. "There were no favorable developments. The union said it has the support of majority of its members," he said, adding that the union president had been fired for a cause. In January, the Labor department also prevented a strike after it took jurisdiction of a conflict over BPI’s extended banking hours. The case is still pending before the labor commission. Mr. Alerta said majority of the union’s more than 200 members had voted to strike even if they could just have questioned the legality of Mr. Dacayana’s dismissal before labor arbiters. "We opted [to file] a notice of strike to bring immediate attention to the plight of our president. He remains the union president because his dismissal is still in question," he said in a separate interview. He said any conciliation meeting would fail because both parties would not budge. "There is no longer any middle ground." With the compulsory arbitration, operations at all bank branches and express banking centers in Metro Cebu are expected to proceed smoothly. "From the start, we never expected any disruption in banking operations. We were confident that the [union] members will realize that the issue is not [a cause for strike]," Mr. Marquez said. - Marites S. Villamor, BusinessWorld