PLDT union calls on management to open CBA negotiations

This article is available in Pilipino

PLDT workers protested before the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in Intramuros, Manila on May 13 to demand that the company’s management open negotiations for the new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) for 2024-2027. The Manggagawa sa Komunikasyon ng Pilipinas (MKP)-PLDT said they submitted a notice for negotiations and their demands as early as February 19.

Three months later, the company has yet to respond or plan to negotiate with the union. The union said the company deliberately prolongs and delays negotiations to stretch the gap (between CBAs) allowed by Philippine labor laws.

The union said that if the submission of the notice exceeds the deadline of six months, the workers may no longer receive up to eight months of retroactive pay (including additions to the wages of the workers that will be obtained in the CBA). It said the PLDT management insists that the negotiations start in August or September because this is allegedly the “tradition” and routine in the past.

The workers also called for the company to provide its workers adequate equipment and compensation when on duty. Among expenses that the company pass on to its workers include bills for emission testing, car washes and other maintenance expenses for vehicles used in company operations.

They also demanded the regularization of PLDT’s more than 7,000 contractual workers in the installation, repair, and maintenance of lines. The company continues to ignore the Supreme Court ruling in March that PLDT workers should be regularized.

Meanwhile, they condemned DOLE for favoring capitalists over workers. They demanded the department to push PLDT to immediately meet its obligation to negotiate.

In this regard, workers from PLDT branches in Laguna and Quezon, and the cities of Baguio, Bacolod, Cebu, and Davao launched a picket. The CBA they are promoting covers 4,041 regular employees nationwide. The union plans to go on strike and launch a series of protests across the country if the company does not respond.

PLDT is the oldest and largest telecommunications company in the country. In 2023, the company’s total revenue swelled to ₱26.1 billion from ₱10.49 billion revenue in 2022. The company is owned by Indonesian billionaire Anthoni Salim through Filipino bourgeois-comprador Manny Pangilinan.

AB: PLDT union calls on management to open CBA negotiations