Duty Free employees go on strike

Employees of Duty Free Philippines staged a strike yesterday morning in protest of a management plan to lay off some 800 employees by January next year.

The striking employees led by Al Bautista said that the plan would reduce the number of employees from 1,100 personnel to only 250.

Bautista said that DFP has already laid off 1,000 employees in 1998 which he described as union busting. The laying off of another 800 employees was planned to replace them with management’s people, he added.

DFP head, Faustino Salud was, reported to have gone on a trip abroad, and efforts to reach him failed.

Salud wanted to reduce the number of DFP employees because, according to him, in the past, DFP was overstaffed, adding whatever it makes goes to the salaries of its employees.

According to the striking employees, Salud was reported to have told a group of employees of the plan to layoff 800 more employees by the end of the year. They said that they went on strike to stop Salud from implementing the plan, adding that they would continue the picket lines until DFP management has changed its decision and retained the employees to be laid off.

It was gathered that the DFP was "in the red." And arriving Filipinos no longer go to DFP to shop as they find the items they need in Makati cheaper than in DFP. – Rey Arquiza