Victory Liner was laying off over 400 employees due to COVID-19 pandemic
Victory Liner, Inc. was laying off over 400 employees as a result of the Philippines’ month-long travel restrictions because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This, as Victory Liner, Inc. was one of the largest provincial bus operators in the Philippines and served routes in Northern and Central Luzon.
Alex Briones, the operations manager of Victory Liner, said in a phone interview with GMA News Online that the bus company was laying off 100 “older” employees that were “optionally” retired and 309 probationary employees.
He revealed that this was the bus company’s first time that this happened in its 75 years of operations, adding that this only meant that there was an economic problem within the bus company.
In addition, Briones admitted that Victory Liner was struggling financially since all of its 1,200 bus units in its fleet were all acquired via loan, adding that the bus company would have to keep paying for its loaned assets even if it’s not earning.
Victory Liner’s laying off of its employees happened as bus companies were forced to halt its operations when the national government placed the entire Luzon under “lockdown” since mid-March of 2020.
However, the bus company may lay off even more employees in the succeeding months as it expected more losses from the policy on public transportation imposed by the national government including the implementation of cashless payment transaction and 50% load capacity.
As per the report, the bus company would also have to set aside more money in order to comply with its modifications in order to meet Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board’s minimum requirements.
Alex Briones also said the bus company would have to streamline its 3,300 employees in order to keep the bus company financially afloat.
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