Seafarers explore voluntary arbitration as CBA item
by LEO J. SANTIAGO
OFW Journalism Consortium

MANILA -- CAPTAIN Alfonso Del Castillo is upset.

He is looking at seven years before each of the 14 cases his seafarer-recruitment company TSM Philippines Inc. filed at the National Labor Relations Commission will be resolved.

But an ongoing lobby by seafarers’ union International Transportation Workers Federation (ITF) for voluntary arbitration can erase whatever ill feelings Del Castillo said he has over the slow grind of justice for Filipino seafarers.

That is, if ITF can convince ship owners, seafarers’ employers, and seafarers to include voluntary arbitration as a provision in collective bargaining agreements. Hence, Del Castillo said he may just be looking at 2006 as the year his firm’s in-tray of all cases are cleared.

Voluntary arbitration –settling disputes sans court hearing– is that attractive an option for seafarers, their leaders like Del Castillo, and the ITF in view of clogged dockets of Philippine courts.

Consider that the NLRC has a backlog of 18,000 cases, according to former NLRC chair Roy Señeres. These cases that go back years exclude the minimum 35,000 labor dispute cases filed at the commission every year (or 132 cases a day).

Specifically resolved by voluntary arbitration, according to a National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) official, is the problem of paying lawyers –an appearance fee’s at a minimum of P1,000. It also does away with lawyer’s fees, which go for 30 percent of total compensation awarded in a winning case.

NCMB migrants desk chair Teresita Lora told the OFW Journalism Consortium that seafarers and overseas workers have been lately resorting to “walk-in settlement”, which is a form of voluntary arbitration.
They are willing to settle rather than sue, said Lora, who is also a lawyer.
Lora explained that in a “walk-in settlement”, labor cases are settled between the complainant and the contending party before these cases become mandatory for labor arbiters to hear and try.

The parties then agree to formalize their agreement in front of the arbiters, Lora added.

With this system of resolving labor disputes, Pandiman Phils. Inc. president Andrew Malpass expects litigation time reduced to only three to four months.

Capt. Malpass says this is still less time compared to a case that flows through the legal system: from the NLRC to the Court of Appeal and then to the Supreme Court, which takes five to seven years before a case is resolved.

Legal knots
MALPASS said what voluntary arbitration does away with is the current practice of hiring a third party, basically lawyers, in cases of labor disputes.

Malpass said that personal injury and/or death cases immediately go to the NLRC, especially when the seafarer or his/her beneficiary believes the compensation specified in a standard employment contract is too low in such cases.

Almost a hundred percent of these cases are heavily influenced by a third party lawyer, Malpass added.

He said some lawyers promise the seafarer or his/her beneficiary the case can bag him or her more than the amount stated in the contract, which goes for a minimum of P500,000.

They quote ridiculous sums of dollars awaiting the seafarer or beneficiary, Lora said adding that enthralled by the amount, the seafarer gives the lawyer a special power of attorney without considering the case can drag on.

All the while, the lawyer knows that whatever the award the court grants, he or she will get anywhere from 30 percent to 50 percent, she added.
Lora said, on top of that figure, is the 10-percent lawyer's fees always awarded by the NLRC.

Julian Lister of GARD representing the P&I Clubs said in a forum last year that cases like these at the NLRC have been beset with several problems.
For one, every NLRC arbiter is allowed to exercise very liberal and personal interpretation of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration's standard employment contract, Lister said, citing a GARD study.

He added they also discovered there is no screening of cases before these are filed.

And because there is no filing fee, a seafarer dissatisfied with the company doctor's assessment feels there is nothing to lose by filing a case at the NLRC for full disability, Lister added.

Option potion
THE attraction to use voluntary arbitration in resolving labor disputes was emphasized by POEA chief Rosalinda D. Baldoz.
“We have enough experience on mediation or conciliation. Now that labor cases are increasing again, the idea of pursuing voluntary arbitration needs some pushing,” she said.

"For those who want to speed up labor justice; for those who want to speed up simple money claims; and, for those who have simple violation of labor standards –if the cost of litigation is too much, then it presents itself as very effective alternative to compulsory arbitration,” Balzoz added.

Convinced, ITF’s Steve Cotton said the global seafarers’ union tapped Amosup for its information and education campaign on voluntary arbitration for seafarers and their families.

The ITF has a deadline of January 2006 when CBA negotiations for its member unions and ship owners should have been finished. However, ITF officials cannot promise the inclusion of voluntary arbitration in the CBAs, they will likely include it as part of negotiations.

At present, ITF wants more meetings with international maritime groups and shipping firm owners on voluntary arbitration, persons familiar with the negotiations say.

Using the ITF’s disdain barometer for third party claimant's lawyers, seafarers’ employers and unions will see the light and adopt voluntary arbitration as another mode of settling labor disputes, Malpass told the Consortium.

For now, Del Castillo has to wait if the ITF successfully lobbies for the inclusion of VA in the CBAs of seafarers’ unions. He has no other recourse but deal with legal cases filed at the NLRC.

And continue to be upset until January next year or until voluntary arbitration becomes part of seafarers’ unions’ CBA. end