SANTIAGO -- Global miner Anglo American laid off 180 workers at its flagship Los Bronces mine in central Chile, part of a plan to boost productivity at the deposit that has raised the ire of some of its unionized workers.

HOUSTON -- The United Steelworkers (USW) union on Wednesday rejected the first offer from Shell Oil Co. in talks for a new national agreement covering 30,000 U.S. refinery, chemical plant and pipeline workers, according to three sources familiar with the negotiations.

We are planning to conduct a job evaluation program, but we can’t afford an external consultant to help us. Our CEO suggests that the project be done by our human resource department. The trouble is that we have more than 130 jobs in the organization and revising them all would take up a lot of HR’s time. My question is: Whose job is it to write and revise the job description -- the HR manager or the line managers who are expected to know what’s best for their respective departments? -- Blue Wave.

EMPLOYMENT in the mining and quarrying sector bounced back slightly in 2018 to 206,000 but remains below its 2015 levels, the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) said.

HALFWAY into President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s administration, there have been notable measures in behalf of labor that have been signed into law. Perhaps in no other administration have there been such significant developments for the benefit of the work force.

We’re thinking of raising the empowerment level of our people managers to decongest and simplify our administrative work processes and improve our labor productivity at the same time. One department manager suggests that we consider the “one-over-one” approval of employee leaves, work schedules, and other related matters. What do you think? What are the things that we should consider to make such change successful? -- Yellow Submarine.

THE Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) said it plans to visit at least 55,000 establishments this year to conduct labor inspections.

THE House of Representatives approved on third and final reading a measure increasing the share of the service charge allocated to rank-and-file employees in the hospitality industry.

THE Climate Change Commission (CCC) is drafting guidelines for assessing and certifying employers taking part in green job initiatives, a program which it hopes to pilot-test within the year.

CITIGROUP’S female employees earn 29 percent less than their male counterparts, the Wall Street bank revealed on Wednesday, while announcing targets for appointing more women and minorities to senior roles.

MOBILE, ALABAMA -- Airbus SE expanded its industrial presence in the United States on Wednesday, starting construction on a new assembly plant for the Canadian developed A220 jetliner, 18 months after agreeing to buy the plane in the midst of a U.S.-Ottawa trade dispute.

I am the general manager of a manufacturing plant with 300 plus workers. How can you prove to the satisfaction of all concerned that a department, section, or corporate unit is overstaffed, with both regular and “endo” workers? What’s the best way to increase labor productivity so that we can justify the employment of people in an organization? Please advise us. -- Pink Rose