Home | To bottom

CBA negotiation in BPPC favors workers

BAGUIO CITY (Feb. 18) — Members of the negotiating panel of the Bauang Private Power Corporation – Site Employees Union - National Federation of Labor Unions - Kilusang Mayo Uno (BPPCSEU-NAFLU-KMU) brought home the good news to their co-workers, as the recently concluded Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) negotiations last Feb. 10 between the union and the management of the Bauang Private Power Corporation (BPPC) favored the workers.

The provisions agreed upon in the negotiations will be integrated into the existing CBA which has an effectivity period from January 1, 2002-January 1 of 2006.

The existing CBA was implemented in the first three years (2002-2004) and the last two years were re-negotiated for another round of drafting the CBA.

The management and the union agreed to implement the general wage increases (GWI) for the remaining two years of the CBA.

There will be a wage increase of P1,500.00 for the month of January 2005 which is retro-active since the CBA was concluded this February and another P1,500.00 will be released on January next year.

The setting of the performance appraisals rates was also included in the agreement. Such appraisals will be based on the yearly evaluation of employees. An employee who will earn a fair evaluation rate will be given an appraisal of 4% of his basic salary as of December 31 of the preceding year. If he gets a satisfactory evaluation, he is entitled to a 6% appraisal rate, 7% for very satisfactory and 9% for being outstanding.

The performance appraisal rates were a company prerogative in the past years but the union successfully convinced the management to institutionalize it in the CBA. The separation benefits of a worker in case of retrenchment due to redundancy will be equivalent to two months basic pay for every year of service provided that the employee concerned had served for at least five years. This will be tax free.

The other economic and non-economic benefits in the previous CBA will be maintained. The CBA will benefit the 105 rank-and-file employees of BPPC where 79 of them are members of the union.

The negotiating panel of the union headed by the union president Eduardo “Ka Edong” Rimando also managed to halt the removal of one of the union officers who is also a member of the panel because of alleged violations on the company rules and regulations (CRR).

Meanwhile, KMU-Cordillera Spokesperson James Tulipa congratulated the union for their victory in standing for the workers’ benefits. He said that they did a good job in fighting for what is right especially in the concluded CBA negotiations but he added that they should still be vigilant in maintaining the fruits of their sacrifices.

The final draft of the CBA negotiations was done in the Robinsons Apartelle at the Epifanio de los Santos (EDSA) in Makati City.

The BPPC is owned by the Lopez group of companies. # Aldwin Quitasol for NORDIS

Home | Back to top