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Union building: workers’ quest for just wages and human rights

The worker loves a peaceful environment in the workplace. All he wants is to be treated well just as how he dedicates himself to his job: that he be paid accordingly for the work he did, and that his rights as a worker as well as a human being be respected.

The worker has no dream of reaching the sky or claiming heaven. He only wants just wages and security of tenure in order to feed himself and his family, provide them good shelter, and have no more than a decent life.

The problem is, his employer is a capitalist who has also no dream of giving up the sky and heaven to the workers because it will cost him his economic interests.

Not only most of the time but rather all the time, the capitalist deprives the worker of rightful wage and even does not give it on time. Furthermore, the capitalist has no intention to raise the salary of his worker. He does not want to slash even a little from his bulging profit to provide safety gadgets for the workers and pay their social security. Worse, he does not like to maintain his workers permanently because he will be obliged to give them their separation pay. Sometimes, the capitalist does not comply in paying the retiring employee’s benefits.

The workers would then accept the fact that their interests can never meet those of the capitalist. Capitalists and their collaborators in government positions will not also permit the granting of incentives to the workers.

With these, the workers have no other option but to fight for the fruits of their hardships, which is another difficult undertaking. Thus, he closes ranks with co-workers and unite in their endeavors.

They would then organize and unite through a workers’ union. In the union, they would be permitted to enter a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with the capitalist. It will be a venue for the workers to push for their economic and non-economic demands.

Forming a union is not as easy as forming a classroom organization. They have to bear the difficulties in doing so. They will be vulnerable to harassment by their employers because for the capitalists’ narrow point of view, a workers’ union is nothing but pain in their asses.

Many times, they will convince their co-workers to form a union secretly to avoid the ire of their employers. It is true that there is no law stating that a worker will be dismissed from his job just because he is forming a union but the company he is working at can and will find even the pettiest of reasons to fire him.

And if they ever convinced their co-workers, they will register it at the Labor Relations Division of the regional office the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) where they will be issued a certificate of registration 30 days upon approval.

Upon receiving the registration certificate, the newly formed union may now file a Petition for Certification Election (CE) to prove its legitimacy to the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB).

Upon the receipt of the petition, the assigned mediator-arbiter will look over it within twenty days and then decide whether to dismiss or grant the petition.

In cases like this, the management will do things to avert the CE or, worse, try to break the union. They will say that the company is incurring financial losses and there is no other option but to lessen the number of its workers to save the company from closure.

If the petition for CE is granted, the workers will select which union will represent them in negotiations with the company. If there is no other existing union, they will choose from the newly formed union and no-union. In some cases, the company, in its attempt to maneuver the unity of the workers, will form another union to contest the union initiated by workers.

If the workers’ union wins, it doesn’t mean hallelujah for the workers because they still have to struggle for their CBA with the management. They will submit their economic and non-economic demands in their CBA proposal, while the management will present its counter proposal.

The proposals of the two parties are like water and grease, as they contrast in many ways. But after all, it is called collective bargaining, which means negotiating until an agreement is reached. # Aldwin Quitasol for NORDIS

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