Operations of the Del Monte Land Transport Bus Co. or DLTB are back to normal after its management and striking workers agreed to settle their labor dispute, which saw thousands of commuters stranded during the holiday season, the Department of Labor and Employment said.
DLTB, the biggest bus company in southern Luzon with more than 700 buses running from Manila to the southern provinces as far as Southern Leyte in the Visayas, agreed to some demands of the DLTB Labor Union-AGLO, according to Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III.
“In the interest of industrial peace and in order not to further jeopardize the commuting public, the DLTB management and its union reached an agreement for the resumption of normal operations of the bus company,” Bello said.
The agreement provides that the labor union will lift the strike immediately, while DLTB management shall accept all striking employees, except those terminated prior to the strike, under the same terms and conditions that existed before the strike, the labor secretary said.
The issues that led to bus drivers, conductors and other workers to strike that are subject to compulsory arbitration before the National Labor Relations Commission, and those at the DoLE Regional Office 4-A have yet to be settled, Bello clarified.
The strike, staged by the DLTB Labor Union affiliated with the Association of Genuine Labor Organization, paralyzed about 90 percent of the company’s bus operations to the Bicol Region and Southern Tagalog provinces during the Christmas holidays, affecting thousands of commuters.
The union protested management’s alleged underpayment of minimum wages and non-payment of 13th month pay. Bello assumed jurisdiction of the labor dispute on Dec. 28 in a bid to avert disruption of public transport during the holidays.
