21 fired Vallacar workers want jobs back

By: Dolly Yasa

BACOLOD City- The 21 employees of Vallacar Transit Incorporated (VTI), parent company of the Ceres bus liners, who were reportedly sacked for going Absent Without Official Leave (AWOL) expressed confidence that they will regain their jobs.

The employees and their legal counsel Joemax Ortiz attended the hearing Tuesday afternoon at the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) office in Barangay Villamonte here.

Representatives of VTI were also present during the closed-door hearing.

Ortiz said the hearing was good as it was “conciliatory” and the terminated workers were allowed to express their feelings to VTI representatives.

Ortiz said the sacked workers are not asking anything else except that they get their old jobs back.

“Whatever the Yanson family is feuding on right now should stay in court, but in the meantime the employees should not be dragged and affected by the current dispute,” Ortiz said.

The lawyer said the workers have all expressed that they were only there to work and they are not taking any sides in the ongoing feud.

“If you terminate them you are only destroying the company, they are only there to preserve the good name of the company,” he said.

Ortiz suggested that the Yanson family should also end their disputes.

The lawyer also forwarded several complaints coming from the side of the sacked workers, claiming that they and their families are being prevented by security guards from riding Ceres buses.

“This is a transport business, even if they are your enemies or not, they have no business to order them to get out, it’s very unfair,” Ortiz pointed out.

The lawyer added that the second hearing was reset to December 10 as the VTI representatives claimed that there is a board meeting next week, wherein negotiations will also take place between the company and labor unions.

Once it is not resolved, Ortiz said the case will be forwarded to the NLRC Labor Arbiter and a resolution should be released within one month.

By first of January, Ortiz said they will know if the sacked employees will be reinstated.