NCMB marks 20th anniversary; vows to intensify efforts to sustain industrial peace

The National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) has committed to intensify efforts to further reduce if not completely eliminate work stoppages and lockouts that numbered only six in 2007.

During its 20th anniversary celebration last Friday, the NCMB was cited by Labor and Employment Secretary Arturo D. Brion for its relentless efforts to settle industrial disputes and prevent strikes and lockouts that have drastically reduced over the last 20 years.

Brion said that with the intervention of NMCB, the annual number of strikes and lockouts tapered off gradually from as high as 581 in 1986 to its lowest in 2007.

NCMB was created on January 4, 1988 as an agency attached to the Department of Labor and Employment by virtue of Executive Order No. 126 by then President Corazon Aquino to address the turbulence in the industrial front that wrought havoc in the efforts to attract investments and generate jobs.

The Board primarily provides conciliation and mediation services to disputing parties. It also promotes other modes of labor dispute settlement such as grievance handling, voluntary arbitration and labor-management cooperation.

In 1988, NCMB also introduced the concept of preventive mediation, wherein labor and management conflicts are settled without the pressure of a threat of strike or lockout. This provides both parties a venue to discuss their differences even before the dispute reaches a level wherein the union will be forced to launch a full-blown strike, and the management to a lockout.

"All the efforts of NCMB to settle disputes and prevent them from escalating into strikes and lockouts resulted in a level of industrial stability never before seen in Philippine labor relations history," Brion said.

"NCMB succeeded in reversing the growing unrest in the labor relations front and paved the way for a relative industrial peace that is crucial in attracting and sustaining investments and in preserving and generating jobs."

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