Petron open to dialogue with striking union execs, members

Petron said it was saddened by the decision of the officers of the PBR labor union to stage a strike even if their Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) was already signed on October 30, 2019, and the company met their demands. (File photo: Stratman² – (monitoring Joey’s health)/Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

BALANGA CITY, Bataan — Petron Corp. said it is open to a dialogue with members and officers of the Bataan Refiners Union of the Philippines (BRUP), who went on strike at the Petron Bataan Refinery (PBR) in Limay town, this province over the weekend.

“Petron remains committed to building a stronger future and promoting the welfare and best interest of all its employees,” the company said in a statement sent to the Philippine News Agency.

Petron said it was saddened by the decision of the officers of the PBR labor union to stage a strike even if their Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) was already signed on October 30, 2019, and the company met their demands.

“Both management and union reached an agreement that protects the jobs of employees while allowing the company to stay competitive in these challenging times,” the statement said.

“Apart from salaries and benefits including overtime pay, they also have guaranteed increases and bonuses that are way, way above what the oil industry, in particular, offers. Specifically, our rank-and-file employees at the refinery get average compensation of over PHP100,000 per month including overtime pay, allowances, and non-cash benefits,” Petron Corp. said.

“Still, while their actions are regrettable, we remain hopeful that the new issues they are raising can be settled soon,” it added.

BRUP staged a strike on Saturday and Sunday for alleged union-busting and the company’s non-compliance with CBA provisions.

The strikers dispersed around 10 a.m. Sunday after Secretary Silvestre Bello III of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) issued a return-to-work order and assumed jurisdiction over the labor dispute.

Gerald Medina, BRUP president, said he and other 23 union officers were, however, barred from working Monday and instead slapped with 30 or more days of preventive suspension for an alleged illegal strike.

On Petron’s readiness to sit down and talk, Medina said the union has sent letters to the company asking for time to prepare for dialogue, adding, however, that they have not received an invitation for talks.

He said that they signed the CBA last October to help their members, who were then to be terminated for reason of redundancy, receive bigger separation pay.

He also said that the salary increase of PHP2,500 stipulated under their CBA was low compared to the PHP4,500 in their previous agreement.

“Bilang tulong sa mga kasamahan namin na mawawalan ng trabaho, tinanggap na muna namin. Maliban dito, binawasan ng management ang overtime computation namin pero bilang tulong sa kumpanya, bukas-palad namin itong tinanggap (As assistance to our co-workers that will be losing jobs, we accepted for the meantime. Aside from this, the management reduced our overtime computation. But as a support to the company, we accepted it),” Medina said.

He doubted the claim that rank and file employees get an average compensation of over PHP100,000 per month, including overtime, allowances and non-cash benefits.

The union leader said, however, that some workers working with the refinery for more than 15 years could be receiving PHP100,000 a month.

“Sagsag naman ito sa overtime. Ibig sabihin pinaghirapan nila (That was for overtime. It means they worked hard for it),” he said.

“Karamihan sa amin kahit pumasok ng seven days a week at 16 hours na duty, imposible na makuha PHP100,000. Non-cash benefits na sinasabi nila hindi namin alam kung ano yun. Allowance namin hindi palagi dahil kung may overtime lang yon (Even if most of us work seven days a week and 16 hours a day, it is impossible to earn PHP100,000. As for non-cash benefits that they are saying, we do not know about it. In terms of our allowance, we only receive it when there is overtime),” Medina said.