Consumer group Power Watch Negros yesterday strongly condemned the intended labor strike initiated by Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco) Union of Rational Employees (CURE) president Felix Gepilga Jr. without consulting other union officers.
In a statement, Power Watch Negros secretary-general Wennie Sancho accused Gepilga of hatching what he described as insidious activity in a notice of strike he filed without considering its disastrous consequences.
Sancho said it will wreak havoc on every household of Ceneco consumers, with majority of business operations grinding to a halt, if there is no power supply, resulting in losses worth billions of pesos.
CURE vice president Marbie Cabardo, who criticized Gepilga’s action, accused him of making decisions based on personal motives, and excluding other union officers from the process.
Such a significant decision should have involved broader support from the union officers and members, she added.
Moreover, Sancho said that if the operation of Ceneco as a distribution utility is paralyzed, it would result in economic devastation of unparalleled proportions.
“It will cause irreparable damage to the lives of the people, function of the local government will be suspended, exacerbating the situation amid the water crisis in Bacolod City,” he added.
Sancho said the union refused the offer by Ceneco for their separation and or retirement pay and the preference for re-hiring by the joint venture company, Negros Electric and Power Corp. (NEPC), and pushed their illogical demand to be “absorbed” by NEPC as employees automatically.
“These pretenders are trying to impede our goal for power supply reliability,” he added. | GB
