Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano welcomed the signing of the collective negotiation agreement between the Department of Foreign Affairs and the DFA Rank and File Association, saying this is expected to boost not just the morale but also the productivity of the agency’s personnel.
“The signing is an historic event, since it took the DFA almost 20 years to finally be able to enter into a collective negotiation agreement with a recognized employees’ union,” Cayetano said after he signed the document with DFARFA president Dominic Macaraig.
“It also symbolizes the Department’s commitment to promote responsive management and its recognition of responsible public sector unionism as key partners to effective governance,” he added.
Cayetano said the agreement recognizes the DFARFA as the sole and exclusive negotiating agent of the department’s rank-and-file employees with respect to the terms and conditions of employment not fixed by law.
The salient provisions of the agreement include the joint commitment to push for the full implementation of Section 38 of Republic Act 7157 to consider Manila a separate post and the grant of CNA incentive in the amount to be determined by the Organization-Management Consultative Committee to be created upon implementation of the CNA.
The agreement provides for the representation of DFARFA to existing committees and any other committees that may be created by the DFA on matters that will affect the rights and welfare of the rank and file.
It also establishes a Legal Defense Claims Board to provide legal assistance to employees facing administrative, civil or criminal charges.
The pact also seeks to augment existing medical benefits of employees, and pursues a policy of ending long-term contractualization and ensuring fairness and merit on the rotation of personnel for foreign postings.
The agreement was the result of six meetings convened by representatives of the DFA and the DFARFA to negotiate the provisions of the agreement.
Once the formal requisites of posting, ratification, and registration of the agreement have been complied with, the CNA shall take effect and remain to be in effect for three years, subject to amendments, which may be made in writing and signed by both parties.