LCMCo Workers
Ready for Election
BAGUIO CITY (November 8)-After partaking
in the barangay elections in their respective hometowns, the workers
of the Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company (LCMCo) in Mankayan,
Benguet, are gearing for another election. This time, they will
choose their certified union to be their sole Collective Bargaining
Unit (CBU).
In a clarificatory hearing held at the Department
of Labor and Employment-Cordillera Administrative Region (DOLE-CAR),
the counsels and officers and representatives of the Lepanto Employees
Union-National Federation of Labor Unions-Kilusang Mayo Uno (LEU-NAFLU-KMU)
and the Lepanto Rank-and-File Union-National Mine and Allied Workers
Union-International Federation of Chemical, Energy, and Mines General
Workers Union (LRFEU-NAMAWU-ICEM) that a Certification Election
(CE) be held on November 17, 2007 at the Lepanto National High School
from 7 AM to 5 PM. The said hearing was called for to determine
whether the Petition for Certification Election (PCE) filed by LRFEU
on October 3, 2007 should push through or not.
The hearing was attended by 19 LEU officers and
5 shop stewards led by their president Manuel Binhaon Jr with their
legal counsel Federico Bunao and some representatives of the LRFEU
led by Christopher Bautista accompanied by their legal counsel Faustino
Olowan.
The winning union will represent the 1,600 mine
workers of the LCMCo in the 24th Collective Bargaining Agreement
(CBA) with the management of the said mining company. The LEU submitted
their CBA proposals ratified by the majority of members of the LEU
last November 6 at the general office of the local management of
Lepanto and a copy was provided to the main office of the LCMCo
in Makati City.
LEU president Binhaon hopes that the members of
the present union should be wise enough to choose the rightfully
union proven of its sincere servitude to its general membership.
"We are looking forward to the members and workers of Lepanto
not to forget their sacrifices in building the LEU into a genuine
workers' union and continue to embrace the LEU-NAFLU-KMU".
The campaign period for the two unions officially
starts on Nov.8 at 12 noon and will last until 12 midnight of Nov.16
###Aldwin Quitasol -KMU-Cordillera
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