Return to work

Here’s the latest on the PLDT employees strike.

The Department of Labor and Employment has ordered striking employees at Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) back to work in an effort to resolve a dispute with the management.

Labor Secretary Patricia Santo Tomas has asked the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) to arbitrate in view of the failure of the parties to arrive at a voluntary settlement of the dispute through consultation. Under Philippine labor laws, the labor secretary forwarding a strike case to the commission means the employees on strike will have to return to work immediately until the case is resolved.

Santo Tomas also asked PLDT to take back the staff under the same terms and conditions prior to the strike. The 6,700-strong union workers of PLDT went on strike Dec. 23 after the company served notice to lay off 350 telephone operators effective Dec. 31.

The return-to-work order only covers striking workers and excluded those that have been laid off.

According to PLDT, which has 12,000 employees, the strike did not affect operations. The country’s largest telecommunications company laid off some provincial telephone operators due to less demand for operator-assisted long distance calls following the computerization of its operations and the increased use of cellular phones, e-mail, and other alternative means of communication.

New company

Digital Telecommunications Phils. Inc. (Digitel) has spun off its cellular mobile telephone unit and created a new company named Digitel Mobile. President Arroyo has just issued the new company a franchise allowing it to operate for the next 25 years in the Philippines. According to sources, the spin off was a conditionality set by some of the mobile unit’s creditors which did not want to be associated with the landline telephone business which like any other company in the same line of business is hardly making money.

In the meantime, Digitel’s mobile telephone business has yet to start commercial operations. While it was originally targetted to commence commercial operations before the end of 2002, this has been moved to this month or even later. According to sources at the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), this may be due to the fact that Digitel’s mobile unit has yet to enter into interconnection agreements with rivals Smart Communications and Globe Telecom. Without the interconnection accord in place, Digitel mobile subscribers cannot call Smart or Globe cellular phone subscribers and vice-versa. Another agreement is needed for texting. With Smart (and another PLDT subsidiary Pilipino Telephone Inc.) and Globe (together with Islacom’s Touch Mobile) controlling the mobile telephone market, it does not make sense for someone to buy a Digitel cellular phone and not be able to call a Smart or Globe user.

By the way, congratulations to Digitel president Lance Gokongwei and his wife on the birth of their first born — a girl.