LABOR UNION

LABOR UNION

All the Rank and File employees of Manila Hotel are the members of
the union.There is a collective bargaining agreement between the union and the management so the union does not demand very much from the management. All the needs and terms of both sides are included in the CBA so there isn’t much argument existing between them.

To mention a brief history of Manila Hotel’s labor union, it is worthy to mention the KMU (Kilusang Mayo Uno) experience of the employees. The KMU experience traumatized workers.The labor union of Manila Hotel was once a member of Kilusang Mayo Uno. The party list had rallied and something happened during the rally, which brought fears into the members of the union. After that experience, the union disengaged itself from KMU and became an independent union.

“The relationship of the management and the labor union is very good”, Mr. Fernando Martin, the Personnel Head of Manila Hotel mentioned during the interview. Most of the time, the union does not ask much from the management because they are given more than what the law provides. They are given their own office. They are treated with respect and fairness by the management. The management does not hide anything important form them; they are even given audited balance sheets of the hotel. In return, they never ask much. They do not give Manila Hotel that much problem unlike any other union. The management, of course, should also be mentioned for the union’s diplomatic actions because of their proper treatment to the workers. There was even a case when the management decided to offer a raise of a certain percentage to their employees, but instead of accepting the raise or demanding more; they did not accept the raise. They even told the management to give them what the management can afford to give them because they are not asking for such raise.

The supervisors and managers are not part of the labor union. Prior to the disbandment of the union, there was an existing union of the supervisors and the managers. The personnel head appealed to them and asked if they could disband the union, though he never forced them. The supervisors and managers thought about it and during the afternoon of the researchers’ interview of the personnel head; they will have a meeting about disbanding the union. They just had a request if they could keep their office for another purpose. The personnel head agreed. The supervisors and managers will use the office to build a cooperative.