Dismissed LRT workers hold protest as House panel tackle DOTC budget

MANILA, Philippines - A group of former Light Rail Transit (LRT) employees on Thursday staged a protest in front of the Batasan Complex in Quezon City, as lawmakers deliberate on the proposed budget of the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC). A radio report said members of the Pinag-isang Lakas ng Manggagawa ng Metro-National Federation of Workers Unions-Kilusang Mayo Uno (Piglas-NFWU-KMU) trooped to the Batasan Complex saying that instead of pushing for the approval of their P23.56 billion budget, the DOTC should first settle their “debts" with the dismissed LRT employees. The group said the DOTC owes them P229 million in back wages and separation pay, when it “illegally" dismissed 211 employees. The employees were relieved from work after participating in a July 2000 strike which was triggered after the employees and the management reached a deadlock in the negotiations for their collective bargaining agreement. In an earlier ruling by the National Labor Relations Commission, the LRTA and the Metro Transit Organization Inc (MTOI) were being ordered to jointly compensate the dismissed workers. The MTOI is a government-owned and controlled corporation that formerly operated the LRT Line 1. However, the Court of Appeals 13th Division later ruled against the NLRC decision and said that only the MTOI, and not the LRTA, should pay up the said amount. According to the appellate court, the LRTA could not be held liable for the unpaid wages because the dismissed workers were actually employees of MTOI. In April, however, the Supreme Court’s Third Division ruled in favor of the employees and said their relief was illegal. The High Court ordered the MTOI to pay the workers P208 million in back wages and P21 million in legal fees. - Mark Merueñas, GMANews.TV