PLDT Inc. and its labor union reached an agreement to start negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement, effectively terminating the planned strike.
The company told the stock exchange that its management and the Manggagawa sa Komunikasyon ng Pilipinas (MKP), under the auspices of the Office of the Department of Labor and Employment, through its Undersecretary for Labor Relations, Benedicto Ernesto R. Bitonio, Jr., have come to an amicable resolution as to when to begin the negotiations.
“PLDT is pleased to report that PLDT management and the MKP, the exclusive bargaining representative of the rank and file employees of PLDT, under the auspices of the Office of the Department of Labor and Employment Secretary, through its Undersecretary for Labor Relations Benedicto Ernesto R. Bitonio, Jr., have come to an amicable resolution as to when to begin their 2024-2027 Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations.
“As a result, the notice of strike filed by the MKP in April 2024 has been lifted,” PLDT said.
“PLDT operations remain ‘business as usual’ and focused on serving the needs of its customers,” it added.
The telco earlier maintained the negotiations should commence in September this year as mandated by the Labor Code’s “freedom period” which starts 60 days before the current contract expires on 8 November 2024.
Under the Labor Code, the parties are tasked to meet and negotiate the renewal or modification of the terms of the CBA at least 60 days prior to its expiry – the so-called freedom period – that, in this case, will begin in the first week of September, or more than three months from now and almost seven months from the time they first sent the notice to negotiate.
Until then, the Labor Code obligates both PLDT and MKP to respect the current CBA to preserve industrial peace.
