7,000- IWS workers hit CL labor execs’ bad practices

By Mar T. Supnad

TARLAC CITY -- The president of the 7,000-strong workers union of International Wiring System (IWS) appealed Wednesday to newly designated Department of Labor and Employment Secretary Silvestre Bello, III to intervene in their labor problem as they accused Region 3 labor officials of allegedly being “unfair, partial, unjust, and anti-labor.”

Joel Capunpon, incumbent IWS Workers Union president, said that they admire Bello’s ideals and principles being a former human rights lawyer and a pro-labor leader who fought for the interest of workers.

After staging a lightning rally at the DOLE Region 3 office, here July 1, Capunpon said Bello would be the right man at the DOLE to review its regional office’s recent ruling the disputed IWS union elections.

       Capunpon’s group is asking the DOLE to “supervise a new election of union officials,” following the alleged forceful padlocking and keeping of 15 of the 20 ballot boxes during the counting of votes by the LDM, one of the four candidate-groups.

The incident forced four committee on election officials to resign while the DOLE Region 3 ruled for the continuance of the vote-counting despite suspicions that the LDM could have tampered the ballot boxes it secured.