Labor Relations Commission News

Operations resumed at the Manila International Container Terminal after striking workers cleared barricades preventing entry to the port, a senior Philippine official said. National Labor Relations Commission chief said the government asked the 90 striking workers of the International Container Terminal Services to clear the barricades on Thursday night and return to work because of the negative effect of the closure of the MICT on the economy. The MICT handles 70 percent of international container cargo traffic in Manila. "The strikers complied...so NLRC now has to determine the officers who should represent the union to the ICTSI management for collective bargaining," he said.

A labor showdown crippled Irish Ferries for a fourth straight day Monday, as company officials and union leaders refused to budge from their demands, presented in rival plans to independent mediators, according to an AP report. In dispute is the company's widely condemned plan to pay off 543 unionized workers from its key Britain-Ireland routes and replace them with Eastern European workers at much lower wages. None of Irish Ferries' four vessels tried to sail Monday, partly because Ireland's largest labor union - the Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union, known as SIPTU - warned that their members would refuse to let any of the company's vessels dock, according to the report.

The Supreme Court of the Philippines ruled that Filipino seafarers, in many cases, are not "regular employees" as that term is defined in the laws of the Philippines. In the instant case, plaintiff seafarers were employed through manning agents with international carriers for in excess of 20 years. They applied for and were authorized to depart on annual leave. retirement. The employers dismissed them for failure to return to work. reinstated with back wages. and were not entitled to the rights thereunto pertaining. seafarers worldwide. Millares v.