Strike Defies Assumption of Jurisdiction Order in RP’s Largest Palm Oil Company Published on October 9, 2010

Strike Defies Assumption of Jurisdiction Order in RP’s Largest Palm Oil Company

Published on October 9, 2010

Workers in Filipinas Palm Oil Industries launched a strike after months of negotiations for a collective bargaining agreement hit a deadlock, despite an assumption of jurisdiction order from the labor department. A first strike in defiance of AJ under the Aquino administration.
By MARYA SALAMAT

Bulatlat.com
MANILA — In the Philippines’ largest palm oil plantation and milling plant, workers have been forced to launch a strike since two days ago in protest of a “wage freeze” and anti-strike AJ or assumption of jurisdiction.

(Photo by Marya Salamat / bulatlat.com)

Like in the case of workers in Philippine Air Lines, the workers in Filipinas Palm Oil Industries, Inc (FPII) decided to go on strike after negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with their company hit a deadlock. Their protest has also been met with an assumption of jurisdiction (AJ) order issued by the labor department in response to a company request as early as two months ago, when the deadlock in the negotiations has prompted the union to file for a notice of strike.

FPII, formerly NDC-Guthrie, is a joint venture of a Malaysian company and Filipino billionaire Dennis T. Villareal, who is also FPII’s president and chief operating officer. Malaysia is the world’s largest producer and exporter of palm oil. In the Philippines, FPII has the largest plantation and milling capacity for palm oil. Its plantation covers no less than 8,000 hectares in Agusan del Sur, or more than four times the size of other palm oil plantations in the area. Its milling capacity in Agusan alone is also more than twice as big as other palm oil milling plants in the area. On top of that FPII also has another milling plant in Metro Manila.

FPII employs 1,000 workers, but only 400 have regular status. The rest are either contractual or casual workers who are paid lower than.... MORE
Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2010/10/09/strike-defies-assumption-of-jurisdiction-order-in-rp%E2%80%99s-largest-palm-oil-company/