Industrial Relations

A THOUSAND workers are being retrenched by four garment factories in the Mactan Export Processing Zone in Cebu, the Partido ng Manggagawa or Workers’ Party labor group said yesterday.

CEBU, Philippines – The Alliance of Progressive Labor plans to file a petition for a wage increase anytime this month after they deferred their plans to file for a similar petition last January due to the global economic crisis.

MANILA, Philippines – Malacañang has exempted the business process outsourcing and electronics industries from tomorrow’s special non-working holiday.

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) reported yesterday that only four strikes took place in the country during the first eight months of 2009.

A bill pending before the Senate committee on labor and employment that proposes to radically amend Labor Code provisions on contracting and subcontracting will wreak havoc on the economy by forcing out of business independent contractors and service providers.

MANILA, Philippines – An acting sheriff of the National Labor Relations Commission was arrested by police late Monday for alleged extortion, a police official said on Tuesday.

THE Philippines’ flag carrier said it would cut its workforce and flight capacity abroad to cope with the global economic slowdown.

Job contracting or subcontracting is a legitimate arrangement where the law creates an employer-employee relationship between the principal and the person hired by the job contractor only to ensure that the latter’s wages are paid so that the principal becomes jointly and severally liable with the job contractor only for the payment of said wages.…

STATE-RUN Social Security System (SSS) said the number of cases it filed against delinquent employers fell in the first half of this year.

MANILA – Employees of local carrier Philippine Airlines expressed fear that they could be the next casualties as the local airline struggle with its finances.

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) yesterday said it will file criminal charges against any individual found employing the services of foreigners in violation the country’s immigration laws.

This is another case of dismissal based on breach of trust and confidence which is usually applied to supervisory employees. To be a valid ground for dismissal the breach must be willful and connected with the employees’ work. This is illustrated in this case of Randy, Ernie and Lando.

The Joint Foreign Chambers (JFC), which is made up of the biggest foreign trade groups in the country, has opposed a bill seeking to limit the number of casual workers hired by firms operating in the country.

Foreign businessmen said they would block a pending bill at the House of Representatives that seeks to provide workers security of tenure.

CEBU, Philippines – The management and rank and file employees of Coca-Cola Philippines-Cebu Plant inked a three-year Collective Bargaining Agreement yesterday.

CEBU, Philippines – The seven workers of Sulpicio Lines, Inc. who sued the shipping firm before the National Labor Relations Commission may have to wait longer for the resolution of their complaint.

Failure to remit the compulsory contribution of the employees to the SSS is a violation of the SSS Law (R.A. 1161 as amended by R.A. 8282) that renders the employer criminally liable. Such liability however arises only if there is employer-employee relationship between the complainant and the alleged offender. This is the ruling in this…

Little has been heard of the proposal to privatize Philpost in recent months, but it would be a mistake for employees to become too complacent. They would be well-advised, in fact, to read a study published by the post and logistics section of the UNI Global Union.

I have three “guests” in my house, promdi relatives who came to Manila in search of the proverbial green pasture. Two are undergraduates who dropped out of college in Tacloban City—one because he lost interest in pursuing a college degree; the other one because she got pregnant and had to get married. In typical Pinoy…

Dear PAO, I was hired by a company in Valenzuela City in February 2007. By September, I was a regular employee. As a regular employee, I understand that I am entitled to five days of sick leave and five days of vacation leave. Am I correct? Our company made me sign a document stating that…

BAGUIO CITY – The Department of Education should include discussions on labor rights in the curriculum of high schools in the country to boost productivity in the workforce, a University of the Philippines professor said here on Friday.

MANILA, Philippines—About 200 Filipino employees of a New Zealand telecommunications firm joined a nationwide rally Tuesday that was held to protest the adoption of a scheme transforming the employees into sub-contractors.

Secretary Augusto “Boboy” Syjuco, director general of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda), and Sonia Lipio, president of the Tesda Association of Concerned Employees (Tesda-ACE) sign the collective negotiation agreement (CNA) between the management and employees association. Witnessing the agreement signing are Tesda deputy director general Rogelio Peyuan and David Bungallon, chairman of…

CEBU, Philippines – The management of the Visayan Electric Cooperative and officers of the VECO Employees Union signed a Memorandum of Agreement last night, which averted a planned strike by the union.

CEBU, Philippines – Forty-four workers of electronics factory Celestica at the Mactan Export Processing Zone I have filed illegal dismissal charges against the company before the National Labor Relations Commission.

Picking his way past the ranks of riot police and the barricaded factory gates, it was Ssangyong’s chief financial officer who came out to break the news to the waiting journalists.

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has set in place a mechanism to facilitate the settlement of all labor disputes and subsequently the delivery of justice and assistance to workers in distress.

The erstwhile delayed salaries would be given soon to the 300 Filipino construction workers in Maldives, the Department of Foreign Affairs reported over the weekend.

So you’re stuck with a “jerk boss” but you need the job or you are a “jerk boss” yourself and want to atone for your misdeeds. What to do?

CEBU, Philippines – Majority of the members of the Visayan Electric Company Employees Union-ALU-TUCP voted “yes” to a strike against the management whom they accused of committing an unfair labor practices and harassment.