News

After six months of negotiations, averting strike actions and overcoming numerous deadlocks, NUBE Philippines affiliate Grepalife Insurance Employees’ Union [GPLEU] successfully entered into a collective agreement with Sun Life Grepa Financial Inc. revising the salaries of their members for the period from 2017 to 2020.

The Union negotiating panel was chaired by Ms Alma Alcantara, the GPLEU President, with NUBE President Exie Nidea acting as spokesperson and Chief negotiator as per request of the union. The GPLEU-NUBE was able to negotiate a substantial wage and benefit package that is higher than Philippine insurance industry standards.

The main issue that took longer to resolve was Management’s insistence on performance-based wage increases. The Union resisted Management’s proposal mindful of the numerous problems encountered by employees in companies where the union consented to performance-based increases. In the end, the Union was able to negotiate fixed monthly wage increases totalling PhP3,300 spread over three years and additional merit increases. 

The Union constantly sent out updates to the general membership. Thus, the membership was fully aware of the status of negotiations during the gruelling six months of negotiations. This ensured widespread support for the union position and prepared the membership for the possibility of collective union action in case of a deadlock in negotiations.