Union: Benguet miners pressured to return to work by management

BAGUIO CITY — Union officers and stewards of Philex Mining Corp. on Monday marched inside the company’s Padcal mine in the Benguet town of Tuba to protest what they described as management’s efforts to pressure striking workers to return to work.

In a phone interview, National Mines and Allied Workers Union (NAMAWU) Local 101 president Allan Sagun said management had been contacting workers individually and fetching some from their homes to report for duty.

“Some workers were forced to go to work after receiving calls from their department,” Sagun said.

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READ: 400 workers of Benguet mining firm go on strike over wage dispute

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Union stewards, who represent workers and help address workplace concerns within their respective departments, joined the protest march. 

Sagun said the union would sustain the strike until management meets its demands for a P30 daily wage increase, against the company’s P26 offer, and mandatory midyear and year-end bonuses.

“For the past 12 years, bonuses have been the management’s discretion,” he said, stressing the need to make these benefits guaranteed.

Sagun said negotiations between NAMAWU national and Philex management have been ongoing in Manila as of Oct. 12.

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In an online interview, Philex spokesperson Eduardo Aratas said normal operations continued despite the strike, which began on Oct. 11.

Aratas, a lawyer, said Padcal mine employs managers and supervisors organized under a separate union affiliated with the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines, as well as monthly-paid and daily-paid rank-and-file workers. Their shifts and schedules vary and are set at least two months in advance, he added.

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Aratas said the mine gates remained open to all workers, including those participating in the strike, and that management could not prevent employees from entering the facility.

He added that striking workers were being recorded as excused rather than absent without leave, so their participation would not reflect as unauthorized absence.

The strike followed a deadlock in negotiations for the 2025–2027 collective bargaining agreement, particularly over wage increases amid inflation and management’s proposed production-linked pay. 

In a Sept. 22 strike vote referendum, 757 of 863 participating union members voted to authorize a strike. 

READ: Philex Mining posts P200-m first-half net loss

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The union initially planned the walkout for Oct. 13 but moved it to Sunday./coa