LABOUR Secretary Nieves Confesor ordered striking staff at Hongkong & Shanghai Hotels' Manila property back to work yesterday. A walkout by rank-and-file union members severely disrupted the Peninsula Manila Hotel's operations for almost two days, closing all but one of its food and drink outlets and shutting down room service. One hotel guest estimated that only about 20 per cent of staff had showed up for work yesterday. Although a strikers' representative said more than 700 of the 1,100 employees had walked off the job early on Wednesday morning, Peninsula spokeswoman Mila Magsaysay-Valenzuela said only a fraction of that number had not appeared at work. The back-to-work order was issued at noon yesterday; strikers stopped picketing by mid-afternoon. Union representative Serafin Tria said he expected further strike action if grievances were not dealt with. ''We will go back to the picket lines again,'' Mr Tria said. ''They are not giving attention to this problem.'' Strikers said they were protesting against the hotel's plans to lay them off while sections of the ageing hotel were closed for renovations from January. Mr Tria said 900 staff were to be laid off for up to a year. Mrs Valenzuela said no lay-offs were planned. She said the hotel was negotiating with staff over wages to be paid while the renovations were underway.
