Despite records of protest actions over labor-management disputes, the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) said Tuesday that cases of strike nationwide have dropped this year as compared to previous years.

There were only two cases of strikes nationwide in the first three months of the year, records from the DoLE-National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) showed.

“This represents a zero increase compared to the same period in 2009 with four strike incidents,’’ said Labor and Employment Secretary Marianito Roque.

“The rate of strike cases this year is the third lower than the two strikes registered in the same period in 2008 and 2009,’’ he added.

Roque attributed the change (in the country’s labor scene) to the labor-friendly measures adopted and established by the government.

Among these measures included the setting up of grievance machinery in various firms to resolve labor dispute and the preventive mediation (PM).

From January 1 to March 15 this year, PM cases filed with the Board for conciliation-mediation dropped to 79 or 28 percent from 110 in the same period last year. (Shianee Mamanglu)