PPA to pay North Harbor workers

The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) will assume its contractors' obligations to thousands of Manila North Harbor employees, paying benefits for their past service as part of a bid to privatize the country's largest domestic terminal.

The PPA is supposed to have started issuing cheques this week following an agreement with the unions, have mostly whose members worked for the agency for over 20 years ago. In return, union members will cease their privatization protest action and guarantee no further disruption of work.

The agreement assures that all employees will be absorbed as "regulars' by the PPA. The PPA estimates an initial P100 million to be paid to about 1,000 workers of United Dock Handlers alone, which operates four of the seven-finger North Harbor quays, while the three other contractors have yet to submit lists of their workers.