TV5 workers ask DOLE to stop retrenchment

MANILA, Philippines – The TV5 worker unions have filed a complaint before the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in a bid to stop the network’s retrenchment program, which will affect some 700 employees.

In a complaint filed before the DOLE’s National Conciliation and Mediation Board on October 5, the ABC-5 Employees Union claimed the network committed “unfair labor practices.”

This is the 4th complaint filed against TV5 management in less than 2 years, they said.

“The issues consist of mass termination of employment, lockout, Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) violation on retrenchment pay, bargaining in bad faith/refusal to negotiate a new CBA, among others,” said the groups.

The management notified some 700 employees last October 1 that their employment will be terminated after November 15. The notice further stated that all workers are no longer required to report for work thereafter.

The retrenchment, according to the management, is part of efforts to cut the network’s losses.

The unions said the termination notice came without prior discussions.

Moreover, they said the separation package offered by the management was not in line with their CBA. “Management opted to take the minimum requirements prescribed in the Labor Code, which is only about 15% of what the workers should receive under TV5’s CBA.”

The affected workers plan to stage a series of protest actions against TV5’s retrenchment program in the coming days.