Filipinas - Alta Mode settles with striking workers (2011)

On 12 February, the Alta Mode Workers Union (AMWU) filed a strike notice against Alta Mode, Inc. (Alta Mode), a garment factory in the Mactan Export Processing Zone II, Lapu-Lapu City, after the company announced it would close on 15 March for financial reasons. On 16 February, AMWU began picketing Alta Mode to protest the company’s decision. AMWU also said that Alta Mode’s financial statements do not support its position that it is in financial distress. After maintaining its picket camp for three months, AMWU settled with Alta Mode when faced with legal harassment and an adverse arbitration decision concerning an AMWU sit-in at the factory the year before. As a result of the settlement, Alta Mode workers will receive a generous severance package and Alta Mode will move its factory to Vietnam.