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New nego, broad support enliven striking LEU

MANKAYAN, Benguet (Aug. 25) — The striking workers of the Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company (LCMCo) are assured that they will enjoy continuous broad support and are optimistic that the new round of negotiations will bring positive results.

Lepanto Employees Union (LEU) officers and members of the are hopeful that a resolution to their strike is nearing when the Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company’s (LCMCo) Atty. Teddy Rigoroso agreed to sit with them in another round of talks. The negotiations started on Aug. 24 at the union office, here.

Wide support pours in

The striking workers demonstrated their resolve in their three-month struggle anew at the Mill Site in Brgy. Paco this time not in mass mobilization but in a prayer-rally celebrated by representatives of the Church particularly the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, the United Methodist Church, the Episcopal Church of the Philippines, and the local Pentecost church.

Some 2,000 individuals, including supporters from Mt. Province and Baguio City, celebrated the ecumenical mass with the Lepanto Employees Union (LEU) who has been confronted with the issue of union busting since June 2005, aside from the issues in the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) deadlock. The mass was well-attended by other sectors, including representatives and members of the local business sector in this town. A community elder offered a prayer for the workers’ victory — “the victory of the oppressed over the oppressor” — in an opening ritual.

In a solidarity message, Manuel Macaraeg of the local business sector said that LCMCo’s hardline stance on the non-reinstatement of dismissed workers has hurt the local economy of Mankayan.

“The workers are also our consumers,” he said.

Earlier, the ECP’s Council of Bishops issued a pastoral letter calling on LCMCo management to grant the workers’ demands. It also called for the pullout of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in the area. For the said ecumenical mass, the ECP Diocese in Santiago, Isabela, also sent a pastoral letter to LEU.

PNP elements deployed in the area did not wreak havoc during the celebration, which took place from 10 AM to 1:30 PM. The PNP however massed up on August 18 at the Tubo picket line in a false alarm on an alleged mobilization, Mankayan sources say.

Various messages of support were read to the workers and their families during the homily, including statements from COURAGE-Laguna, the Denmark-based International Working Group on Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA), the International Network of Women in Mining, the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA), the MAQUITACDG (Mankayan-Cervantes-Quirino-Tadian Danggayan a Gunglo), an alliance of communities protesting the expansion of LCMCo; peasant group APIT TAKO-Montañosa; and Anakbayan-Mt. Province.

The LEU is now an affiliate of the National Federation of Labor Unions (NAFLU) and Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU).

LEU Pres. Ninian Lang-agan thanked the communities, organizations, sectors and individuals for their continued support to the workers’ strike after the mass.

The Lepanto workers’ issues, particularly the human rights violations perpetrated by the PNP against the workers and their families, were filed at the Commission on Human Rights (CHR). Likewise, these were brought to the attention of the recently concluded International Solidarity Mission (ISM) in Metro Manila along with other human rights violations raised by other organizations and individuals, including those inflicted against the workers at Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac province. The ISM, attended by delegates from other countries, elevated the workers’ issues on HRVs to the international scene, the union said.

New round of negotiations brings hope

All of the 19 union officials faced the company lawyer, who came directly from LCMCo central office in Makati City. Rigoroso is the lone company representative in the resumption of the talks. LEU legal counsels Atty. Federico B. Bunao and Atty. Thomas Bayugan accompanied the negotiating panel. Advisers from the Kilusang Mayo Uno-Cordillera (KMU-Cordillera) were also present in the meeting.

KMU-Cordillera Spokesperson James Tulipa said that the union and the company lawyer planned the meeting to be a marathon series of negotiation to arrive at immediate resolutions, decisions and agreements. He explained that the negotiations would continue until they reach an agreement.

Meanwhile, LEU President Ninian Lang-agan is hopeful that the negotiations would succeed because of the open mindedness of Rigoroso.

“Sapay koma ta mayat ti pagbanagan daytoy panakisango mi itatta kenni Atty. Rigoroso ta napipia ti ikasta na nga makitungtong kadakami. Saan a kasla idi a nu adda ti iparang mi a dawat mi ket dagiti nakisango kadakami idi a nego panel ket saan da kano a madesisyunan isu a bimmayag ti negosasyon para ti Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) negotiations inggana dimmanon kami iti strike,” (We expect positive results in these negotiations with Atty. Rigoroso because his approach is better from those we negotiated in the past. In the past negotiations, whenever we present our demands, they (the past negotiating panel) were always telling us that they have no capacity to decide on the matter that prolonged the CBA negotiations until we staged this ongoing strike.) he said.

KMU-Cordillera Regional Coordinator Lorico “Ka Jun” Espejo said that the union officials and Rigoroso are working hard to make the proposals acceptable to both parties. Espejo added that in such negotiations parties involved tend to take a hard line position when presenting their respective proposals and decisions but positive results come out in the latter parts.

Dispersals while negotiations progress

The first day of the negotiations nearly collapsed, when union officials learned that at around 4:00 in the afternoon, fully armed members of the 1064h Provincial Mobile Group (PMG) of the Benguet Philippine National Police (PNP) tried to escort a company truck carrying barrels of cyanide, rod mills and steel balls inside the Mill site. These materials are necessary in processing gold inside the mill site.

Workers said that Assistant resident manager Ernesto Laoagan and Administrative Services manager Atty. Weldy Manlong were the ones who requested the PMG-PNP to escort their goods.

The workers and women staffing the picket line at the Mill site barricaded the entrance to prevent the truck from bringing in the said supplies. The PNP and the workers geared for a confrontation at the street proceeding to the mill site.

The picketers complained that the leader of the 26 police officers, Supt. Brent Madjaco was in civilian clothes. They added that they noticed most of the police officers were intoxicated. They reported further that the PNP even covered the label of their service vehicle with papers.

“Masdaaw kami nu anya manen ti panggep da ta pay a liningdan da diay nagan ti lugan da” (We don’t know the purpose of the PNP why they have to cover the name of their vehicle) said one of the workers who requested for anonymity.

The PNP only left the area when Rigoroso called Atty. Manlong to order the PNP to vacate the picket line. # ATB and Aldwin Quitasol for NORDIS

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