As the year comes to a close, the National Conciliation and Mediation Board cannot help but look back and assess its performance and accomplishments achieved, for the most part, through the hard work, commitment and dedication of its officials and staff and the resilience and positivity of the Board’s social partners.

Despite the challenges brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic to the country’s economy, the Board was able to maintain a peaceful industrial climate nationwide.

With only two (2) work stoppages declared in the 11 months of 2021, NCMB has shown that conciliation-mediation works effectively in preventing labor-management conflicts from turning into full blown disputes. The figure is 60% lower than the five (5) work stoppages declared in 2020. Of the three actual strikes handled, two have been disposed of, leaving just one case pending for further conciliation-mediation works.

This more than proves the Board’s unyielding efforts to settle labor disputes during the pandemic despite the restrictions and limitations in mobility and face-to-face engagements with clients. Under the Single Entry Approach (SEnA), the Board received 3,205 Requests for Assistance (RFAs) from January to November 2021. A total of 2,935 workers have benefited and received around P181,441,217.75 in monetary awards from the 1,976 settled RFAs out of the 3,272 handled as of 30 November 2021.

For Preventive Mediation (PM), out of 429 PM cases handled, 381 cases were disposed of with 372 settled, benefitting 7,103 workers who received P520,549,725 in monetary awards.

In Notices of Strikes/Lockout (NS/L), a total of 127 NS/L new cases were filed from the start of the year bringing to a total of 152 NS/L handled together with the pending 25 cases from 2020. Out of this number, 112 were disposed of with 109 settled, which benefitted 10,904 workers who received Php906,528,635 in monetary awards.

Meanwhile, under the Workplace Relations Enhancement Program of the Board, a total of 314 Labor Management Committees/Councils (LMCs) have been facilitated since January 2021 while 1,802 others were enhanced. The newly facilitated LMCs bring to a total of 4,592 existing LMCs nationwide as of 30 November 2021.

On Grievance Machinery (GM) Institutionalization/Operationalization, 318 GMs were institutionalized/operationalized for the first 11 months. As of date, there are 4,751 existing/active GMs nationwide.
Culminating the Board’s year-long efforts to maintain industrial peace is the Awarding Ceremony for the 2021 Twin Search for Outstanding Labor Management Cooperation and Grievance Machinery for Industrial Peace on 15 December 2021.

The launching of the twin search was held on 30 April 2021. The Board, through the search, aims to intensify awareness on LMC and GM best practices among organized and unorganized establishments. It also aims to showcase the innovations brought by the cooperation of labor and management in minimizing the impact of COVID-19 and encourage social partners to improve workplace relations during the pandemic.

The Board looks forward towards the new year with optimism and positivity as it vows no let up in its efforts to maintain industrial peace across the country.

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