DTC workers have been on a strike called by the union since last week. Union leader, Jacob Pasopi expressed concern on Friday that DTC is using workers not directly involved with diamonds to perform the duties of those on strike. "The union received various complaints from members who are performing minimum services as agreed by both parties.
The management violates our agreement by deploying the above-mentioned employees to other areas, which were not agreed upon. The management continues to deploy non-production staff (technicians, communication staff and internal auditors) to production department and this also puts the value of our diamonds at risk. The security policy and procedures does not allow any person to touch diamonds apart from production staff and shall not enter the production side without security escort," he said. Pasopi accused the DTCB management of using dirty tactics to lobby union members to return to work. He said at one point, the management locked them up in the DTCB premises. He said their efforts to bring the strike to an end failed after management refused to consider their revised demands. In the new offer the union cut down its demands for transport and gas allowances from P1,000 to P800 and salary increase from 7.5 percent to 2.5 percent. Currently, the workers get P180 in allowances.
