Port strike

The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) and the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) averted a nationwide strike by port workers after they approved the much-awaited social amelioration program for port workers.

Had the two agencies not settled the problem, port operations nationwide could have been paralyzed by 98 percent last Friday, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) said yesterday.

Alex Aguilar, TUCP spokesman, said the National Union of Port Workers in the Philippines (NUCP) threatened to go on nationwide strike last March 17 in protest of the disapproval of the port workers' social amelioration program and the PPA's move to privatize ports.