PALEA: Defiance to outsourcing is a global trend

Press Release

October 2, 2011

PALEA

                                                                                                                            

The Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) today observed that protests against job outsourcing and labor flexibilization are a global trend. “Outsourcing may be a global trend as Philippine Airlines (PAL) claims but defiance to contractualization is also an international phenomenon. Just days after PALEA’s protest last Tuesday, Qantas ground crew in Australia went on strike over grievances that include lack of job security,” argued Gerry Rivera , PALEA president and vice chair of Partido ng Manggagawa (PM).

PALEA holds a family day today in which Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo will lead an afternoon mass at the protest camp. PALEA’s protest continues on their sixth day at the campout outside PAL’s In-Flight Center near Terminal 2. Yesterday PALEA members in Cebu set up their own protest camp outside the Mactan International Airport in Lapu-Lapu City.

“Instead of going to the mall, eating out or just relaxing at home, PALEA members’ spend their first Sunday as officially jobless with their spouses and children at the protest camp,” Rivera explained. Family members are among the hundreds of protesters regularly gathered at the protest camp since it started.

“Protest is also a family affair. PALEA’s fight for regular jobs is for the future of its members’ families,” Nerissa Andolong-Puno, wife of a PAL employee said.

Rivera stated that “After the downfall of the hated dictators of Tunisia and Egypt, where revolutions have sparked the spread of the Arab Spring, workers immediately demanded through strikes for regular work and job security due to the prevalence of contractual employment that pays so little in wage and benefits. In Europe, among the grievances that animate the general strikes is job insecurity. Regular jobs are also a demand of people participating in the ongoing

Occupy Wall Street

protest in New York.”

Among the activities lined up for PALEA’s family day are art and crafts workshops for children so they can express their understanding of their parents’ fight against layoff and contractualization. By 5:00 p.m. a mass will be officiated at the protest camp. And then at 6:00 p.m. the regular candle lighting protest will be held.

PALEA also thanked the FASAP (Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines) for its support. “Members of the cabin crew have been sending their solidarity in words and in deeds. The press statement they issued has boosted our members’ morale. Flight crews regularly donate food to the protest camp. It fills not just our stomachs but our hearts as well,” Rivera claimed.