Power Watch-Negros slammed the CENECO Union of Rational Employees (CURE) for filing a notice of strike before the National Conciliation and Mediation Board in Bacolod City.
Wennie Sancho, Power Watch-Negros secretary general, in a statement Wednesday, June 21, said that the filing of the notice of strike is not rational at all as it will make the Central Negros Electric Cooperative (CENECO) consumers “hapless victims” of the labor strike.
“The notice of strike is a very strong indicator that CURE as a labor union does not care about CENECO and the consumers who would be the victims of a labor strike that would cause irreparable damage to the lives and properties of the consumers,” Sancho said.
CURE lawyer Rey Gorgonio said they filed the notice of strike because the CENECO and Primelectric Holdings Inc. joint venture agreement (JVA) is tantamount to union busting.
The notice of strike was also filed to protect the security of tenure of the CENECO employees and their right to self-organization, he said.
Sancho said that CURE did not consider the effect a strike would have on CENECO’s consumers.
Exposing the consumers to more distress and inconvenience would be “adding insult to injury”, Sancho said. It is anti-consumer because the impending labor strike would be detrimental to their interests, he added.*