Philippines : ComVal plantation workers score win with reinstatement of sacked colleagues
of a banana plantation in Compostela Valley province claimed victory after the company reinstated 52 of their colleagues who had been sacked in March after refusing to sign contracts with a labor agency.
The Kilusang Mayo Uno-Southern Mindanao Region said the Musahamat Farm 2 Workers Labor Union lifted their notice of strike after management and representatives of the National Federation of Labor Unions-KMU led by regional coordinator Romualdo Basilio signed a settlement agreement at the National Conciliation and Mediation Board in Region 11.
Aside from taking in the 52 former agency workers as regular employees of Musahamat Farm 2, the company also agreed to let suspended workers resume work immediately and extend financial assistance to those who had already served their suspensions.
The agreement came after the workers picketed the Musahamat Farms Inc. office in Davao and the plantation site in Pantukan town.
On April 2, gunmen fired at the protest camp set up by the workers in Pantukan days after an attempt to burn it down.