Terminated Employees of Visayas Community Medical Center

[pioneer]

The Supreme Court (SC) has ruled that some 88 workers, who were sacked by a Cebu City hospital for staging a series of strikes 15 years ago, shall be paid separation pay because there was no proof they did anything illegal.

The SC partly granted the petition of the terminated employees of Visayas Community Medical Center (VCMC) in Cebu City and ordered the hospital management to pay them one month’s salary for every year of service and attorney’s fees amounting to P50,000.

”Since there is no clear proof those union members actually participated in the commission of illegal acts during the strike, they are not deemed to have lost their employment status as a consequence of a declaration of illegality of the strike,” read the decision that Associate Justice Martin Villarama Jr. penned for the SC’s First Division.

In April 1996, the VCMC terminated the services of about 100 of its rank-and-file employees for participating in the strike and picket.

The dismissed workers had been demanding for the hospital management to resume negotiations for a collective bargaining agreement (CBA).

The National Federation of Labor (NFL) said it was exclusively representing rank-and-file employees of VCMC, formerly known as the Metro Cebu Community Hospital Inc. (MCCH).

Another local union group, Nagkahiusang Mamumuo sa MCCH, led by Perla Nava, also claimed to be the official bargaining representative of the VCMC employees.

The Department of Labor and Employment 7 later issued a certification stating that Nava’s union group is not a registered labor organization.

On March 30, 1996, the VCMC sent termination letters to union leaders and other members who participated in the strike and picket.

On April 8, 1996, the hospital also issued a cease-and-desist order to the rest of the striking employees, stressing that the activities spearheaded by the Nava group were illegal.

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