PALEA remains defiant, won’t give up protest camp

PRESS RELEASE

04 October 2011

PALEA

The Philippine Airlines Employees Association PALEA) remains defiant on its seventh day of protest outside the PAL’s Inflight Center near the Centennial Terminal II, saying it won’t give up the camp until they win back their regular jobs.

PALEA president Gerry Rivera said they have recieved reports that the PAL management had been requesting Palace officials and the Philippine National Police to break the picketline where PALEA members have been holding out since Tuesday last week.

“Hindi namin ibibigay ang aming picketline.  Huwag nyo nang dagdagan ang napakarami nang paglabag sa aming karapatan.  Bagamat ayaw namin ditong magtagal, hindi naman namin hahayaang pati ito ay maagaw pa sa amin ni Lucio Tan,” said Rivera. 

Rivera, who is also the vice president of Partido ng Manggagawa (PM), said the protest camp is a symbol of their continuing fight against the illegal lock out and contractualization.  The camp also serves as a solidarity camp where other trade union, human rights, church, NGOs, artists, and international solidarity groups express their solidarity to the PALEA struggle.

The camp also serves as a “school” during daytime where PALEA members discuss labor rights and other issues related to their struggle against outsourcing and contractualization. Professors from the University of the Philippines have signified to their willingness to discuss relevant issues such as globalization and why firms resort to outsourcing and contractualization.

Rivera said that after seven days of protest, the fighting spirit of every Palean’s remain fully charged in contrast to the depressing environment inside the PAL terminal.

The union leader believes that the union, the PAL management, and the government with some help from other important sectors in our society, can still come up with a just and reasonable solution to this impasse.