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RMN Davao media workers go on strike

Thursday, July 12, 2012

RMN Davao media workers go on strike


“Demands for decent wages cannot be put on hold, especially not with RMN doing good business, raking in huge profits.” –NUJP–Davao
By MARILOU AGUIRRE-TUBURAN and
MARYA SALAMAT

Davaotoday / Bulatlat.com

MANILA — Employees of Radio Mindanao Network (RMN) Davao began a strike yesterday. It is a strike apparently long forewarned by months of fruitless negotiations and series of management refusals to abide by its first signed agreement with the employees.

The employees have been negotiating with RMN for decent wages and benefits since May this year, as stipulated in their first memorandum of agreement, but RMN has reportedly ignored their demands. Instead, it just engaged the workers in “surface bargaining, a token move to appease the workers so that they could get away with ignoring the memorandum of agreement (MOA),” said Dodong Basilio of the National Federation of Labor Union in Davao.

The employees are thus left with no option but to hold a strike, said the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines – Davao City Chapter (NUJP-Davao). Calling RMN a callous employer, NUJP-Davao said the wage hike demand is just a pittance compared to the profits being earned by RMN.

“What we are asking for is very modest, and yet the management is too stingy to give in to the employees’ rightful demands,” said Rey Hernan Fabe, RMN reporter and also president of the RMN Davao Employees Union (RDEU).

RMN’s insincerity

Workers of the Radio Mindanao Network-Davao station launch their strike, Tuesday, scoring the RMN managements’ refusal to give their benefits and failure to negotiate. (davaotoday.com photo by Ace R. Morandante)
The MOA between the RMN employees’ union and management stated that for the first year, union members would be given a graduated lump sum of P 10,000 ($ 239) for those employed more than five years and P6,000 ($143.5) for those employed less than five years. By May this year, the RMN management and RMN Davao employees Union (RDEU) are supposed to have started negotiations on the union’s proposals for P75 ($1.79) wage increase, rice subsidy, meal allowance and a close shop provision.
While the RMN management gave the lump sum, it did not implement other provisions of the MOA; it also discontinued further negotiations. This prompted the RMN Davao Employees Union (RDEU) to file a notice of strike last month.

“We should have started the discussion on wage increase, among others, last May. But no negotiations happened,” Fabe said last week as the union was holding a picket rally in Davao. “This only shows the management’s insincerity to its employees,” he added..... MORE

SourceBulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2012/07/11/rmn-davao-media-workers-go-on-strike/

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