In relation to the information provided by Sintramienergetica’s National Board of Directors President, and published by some media, where they inform of alleged mass layoffs of company employees who were affiliated to the union organization, after the Supreme Court of Justice ruling regarding the illegality of the 2013 strike, Drummond Ltd would like to clarify the following:
The strike carried out by Sintramienergetica in 2013, which lasted 53 days, was declared illegal by the Valledupar Court and confirmed by the Supreme Court of Justice, since some of our employees who were affiliated to that union incurred in violent conducts during the development of the general employee’s assemblies that took place during said period.
Faced with this reality, we must declare as first instance, that we are sorry that an employee’s rights, as is the right to strike, has been declared illegal for not complying with the requirements that the Colombian labor law states. However, the Company complies with the decisions issued by the legal authorities, and takes the actions that in virtue of said act, may be executed.
In this sense, to date we have carried out 19 defense proceedings of employees involved in illegal acts during the strike in 2013, and which have been performed in compliance to the labor collective conventions and respecting the right for defense and due process.
As a result of these proceedings, the following decisions have been made: 6 terminations, 5 employment contract suspensions, 6 process filings for not finding any evidence to impose any sanction, and 2 cases in which no decision has been made because the employees involved have not shown up to work. Regarding this point, it is worth mentioning that the terminations that have been carried out exclusively obey to the active involvement of these employees in the illegal actions, and not in reason of occupational illnesses, as the public has been led to believe.
The company has evaluated each particular case, making the corresponding decisions based on the evidence and arguments presented by the employees and the representatives of the union organizations. For said reason, we can affirm that Drummond Ltd., has not incurred in actions that may be catalogued as “employment massacre”, as has been declared by the union organization Sintramienergetica.
Finally, we would like to point out that the company will continue to carry out the disciplinary proceedings derived from the sentence that declared the illegality of the strike, as well as making the decisions that are supported by the law, based on the criteria mentioned before.
Drummond Ltd. continues to believe in direct dialogue, and in the peaceful resolution of the collective conflicts between the parties directly involved.