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A Look at Repair Contractualization at PLDT
Chronology of Events
Prior to First Pacific Company’s takeover in the 1990s, the Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) Company is a service-oriented company. Public service is PLDT’s commitment of which prompt restoration and troubleshooting of interrupted services has contributed to the company’s image today.
PLDT even categorized their client into the following:
KBC or key business clients, wherein interrupted telephone services must be restored within 1 hour after it is reported repair service, 173/
HVB or high value business, reported troubles under this category must be cleared within 3 hours after it was reported.
Regular clients, troubles under this category must be cleared within 24 hours after reporting.
Under the reins of First Pacific’s Manny Pangilinan, service-orientation was abandoned in favor of revenue orientation.
Year 2002 sees the fixed line stability of PLDT, subscriber base reached 2.1 million.
In 2003, PLDT targeted more revenue, prompting the management to utilize its over 1,881 plant personnel (repairmen, installer, plant combinations) as sales agent, drivers of promotions personnel, delivery men of billing statements and product promoters.
Despite repeated requests of its plant personnel to perform maintenance and repair of sagging outside plant wiring and hanging terminals, PLDT thru its managers, continued to ignore the importance of these requests.
Repairs and restorations were no longer the main concern , PLDT’s thrust is new installations of telephone lines and DSL.
As a result, PLDT earned a net profit of 2.3 B in 2003, 28 B in 2004 and more than 30 B for 2005.
At the start of 2006, PLDT contracted out repairs of telephone lines, which is regular jobs of repairmen. PLDT claims alarming increase of repair tickets.
On February 1, 2006, the Manggagawa sa Komunikasyon ng Pilipinas (MKP), PLDT’s rank and file union , filed a notice of strike at the Dept. of Labor (DOLE)-National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB). MKP claims that PLDT’s alibi of increasing repair tickets is artificial and that the management intentionally allowed the upsurge of troubles.
On February 7, 2006, at the conciliation, PLDT thru its lawyer, Atty. Lanting, has not shown any intention of rectifying its deliberate actions of contracting out of repairs, but instead asked for a resetting of the hearing.
Prepared by: Kiko Vytingco, Assistant Secretary-General (09228064822)MKP PLDTS
RANK AND FILE UNION
