P22 COLA is bad not good news

Press Release

May 10, 2011

The Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) criticized the P22 cost of living allowance (COLA) approved by the NRC wage board as “bad news instead of the good news promised by PNoy.” Renato Magtubo, PM national chair said that “Like in the Philippine Airlines dispute, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz is again the bearer of bad news. Nonetheless PNoy is to squarely blame. Instead of appealing to employers, he should have told the three government representatives in the wage board to push for a wage hike not a COLA. This will set a trend for the rest of the wage boards which will probably also grant a COLA instead of a wage hike”

This morning PM picketed the Department of Labor and Employment in protest at the wage board decision. The group called for the abolition of the regional wage boards and their replacement by a National Wage Commission.

“The government representatives in the wage board heard not PNoy’s call for a wage hike but the employers’ plea for cheap labor. Once more the wage boards have betrayed the workers. The P22 COLA is symbolic of the wage boards’ 22-years of service to the capitalists rather than the workers,” Magtubo insisted.

“The COLA is a misnomer since it is supposed to bridge the gap between the take home pay and the cost of living. But the cost of living in the NCR is already P1,010 as of March for a family of six and yet the minimum wage plus COLA adds up to only P426, which is will not even buy half of the basket of goods and services,” Magtubo explained.

He added that “PNoy should have put teeth to his talk. All PNoy had to do was declare an amount for the wage hike and order the three government representatives in the wage board to push for it. But instead of marching orders to the government representatives in the wage boards, he was content with a futile appeal to the capitalists.”

He explained that in every wage board, the regional director of the Department of Labor and Employment chairs while two more government representatives come from the Department of Trade and Industry and the National Economic Development Authority. Two representatives each from the workers and employers complete the seven-person wage board.

Magtubo argued that the wage boards have outlived their usefulness and should be replaced by a Wage Commission. He stated that “The mandate of the National Wage Commission will be to fix wages based on the single criterion of cost of living. This is different from the wage boards which are bogged down by convoluted and contradictory 10-point criteria in fixing wages. The Wage Commission should raise the minimum wage to the level of the living wage by a mix of mechanisms such as direct wage increases, tax exemptions, price discounts and social security subsidies for workers.”

PAL union, labor party press for inclusion of Baldoz in plunder case

PRESS RELEASE

29 April 2011

The Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) and Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) find it utterly necessary to include Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz and other officials in the plunder case filed by former Solicitor General Frank Chavez against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

“The use of OWWA money to buy votes in 2004 had long been discussed in many fora.  Now is the time to make the guilty parties accountable for squandering millions of OFW funds,” said PM chair Renato Magtubo.

Meanwhile, PALEA President Gerry Rivera called anew on Secretary Baldoz to resign from her post immediately amid the raging controversy.

According to Magtubo, Baldoz together with other members of the OWWA Board cannot dissociate themselves from this crime of Gloria since they facilitated the conversion of OFW funds into election dole outs in 2004. 

“In fact workers here and abroad have very strong doubt that Malacanang and labor and officials are only interested in the funds rather than in protecting the welfare of OFWs,” added Magtubo.

Some P530 million of OWWA funds were transferred to Philhealth in 2003.  These were allegedly used to finance the distribution of Philhealth cards during the 2004 election campaigns. Chavez said the fund transfer is illegal.

“During her time, all that’s coming out of the labor department are bad news,” said Rivera, stating as an example the ruling she made on the PAL-PALEA case where she abused her discretion in allowing Lucio Tan to layoff and contract out 2,600 regular jobs in violation of the existing collective bargaining agreement, the Constitution, the Labor Code and International Labor Organization’s conventions.

“And now that she is being associated to Gloria’s misuse of OWWA funds, all the more we suspect that her recent decisions on labor cases do not come from a clean hand,” concluded Rivera.

PALEA asks Congress to probe ownership of PAL’s service providers

Press Release
November 9, 2010
PALEA

The Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) is calling on the House Labor Committee to investigate the ownership of the so-called third party service providers contracted by Philippine Airlines (PAL) to takeover the airport services, in-flight catering and call center reservations.

“Congress must attempt to pierce the corporate veil surrounding these service providers. A probe may reveal that Sky Logistics and Sky Kitchen are not third-party companies but simply fronts with Lucio Tan as the real owner,” asserted Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) vice chairperson. Sky Logistics is set to takeover the airport services to be shutdown by PAL while Sky Kitchen will capture PAL’s in-flight catering operations. Meanwhile PAL’s call center reservations will e contracted out to ePLDT Ventus.

Tomorrow the House Labor Committee to will hold a hearing on the PAL labor row. PALEA and PM will attend the House hearing to push Congress to regulate the rampant contractualization schemes of employers. Some 500 members of PALEA, PM and the coalition Kontra will also hold a picket the Batasang Pambansa at 11:30 a.m.

PALEA believes that Sky Logistics and Sky Kitchen are in fact owned by Lucio Tan and the alleged proprietor, a certain Manny Osmena, is just fronting for the PAL boss. “Manny Osmena is a Chinese immigrant who acquired Filipino citizenship by naturalization and in the process changed his name to Manny Osmena. He is not related to the Osmenas of Cebu instead he is a cousin of Lucio Tan,” Rivera revealed.

He said that the information they have gathered is that PAL President Jaime Bautista is a stockholder of Sky Logistics and Sky Kitchen. He is also a partner of Manny Pangilinan in ePLDT Ventus. Rivera announced that “We are asking the House Labor Committee to validate these data by asking PAL management to make a full disclosure of the interlocking directorates between PAL and the service providers.”

PALEA is also asking Congress to probe the bonuses received by PAL executives and board members during the years that the national flag carrier was claiming losses. “Why does PAL reward the failure of its executives and officers with indecent benefits? And why is it that workers have to pay for the financial crisis of PAL?” Rivera insisted.

Rivera quoted from documents in PALEA’s possession that reveal bonuses received and estimated to be received by the top senior executive officers in the three years from 2008-2009, 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 at around USD 60,000 (PHP 2.76 M at exchange rate of PHP46 to USD1) per year. This is aside from salaries of around USD 360,000 and other annual compensation of up to USD 90,000.

“For the same years, all the other PAL officers and Board of Directors received no less than USD 25,000 in bonuses on top of salaries of more than USD 150,000 and other annual compensation of up to USD 265,000. These bonuses and other compensation were given out during the years that Labor Secretary Baldoz in her decision cites PAL’s claimed of losses of USD 297.8 M in 2009 and USD 14.3 M in 2010 as basis for retrenchment,” Rivera added.

FASAP supports PALEA strike

PRESS STATEMENT
November 08, 2010

FASAP is one with PALEA in its struggle to protect the job security of all PAL employees and we will stand by them in their intended strike.

PAL's spin-off will affect almost 3,000 employees. This is a most cruel Christmas gift to the PAL employees, their children and their families.

FASAP, which also has a pending labor case with the Department of Labor, is deeply alarmed with the recent decision of the DOLE regarding PAL's “outsourcing” program.

Our brothers and sisters in PALEA are loyal and dedicated PAL ground workers, who have worked very hard and sacrificed immensely to serve PAL and the general riding public.

Through the years, they are the ones who have toiled to keep PAL's 24-hour operations concerning important functions such as In-flight Catering, Ground-Handling and Airport servicing.

Without their sacrifice, competence and dedication, PAL would have closed-down a long time ago. Back in the year 1998 they even agreed to suspend their CBA for 10 years to save PAL from bankruptcy. Now, more than 10 years after, with PAL now profitable, the workers are being dismissed.

We lament that PAL management decided to push through with the drastic spin-off measure, unmindful of how it will affect the lives of 3,000 workers and their families. Surely there are less painful and more humane ways to ensure the viability of PAL?

A more caring Company would think twice before terminating thousands of loyal employees.

The Aquino government should not allow PAL to simply get rid of thousands of Filipino workers in the national flag carrier for the sake of profit.

To contact FASAP for clarifications and interviews at tel nos. 854-51-59, 851-53-93 , FASAP Hotline 0918-8532727.

DOLE protesters call on Baldoz to resign and PNoy to intervene

Press Release
November 8, 2010

More than 200 protesters from Partido ng Manggagawa (PM), the Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) and groups affiliated with the coalition KONTRA picketed the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) this afternoon while a conciliation meeting was being held between Philippine Airlines (PAL) management and the ground crew union. The protesters called for Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz’ resignation and for President Benigno Aquino III’s intervention in the PAL-PALEA labor row.

Last Friday PALEA filed another notice of strike on the ground of unfair labor practice due to PAL’s effort at individual bargaining with union members and also union busting. The DOLE rally today is the kickoff of a week-long series of protests that will culminate in the filing of a case at the Court of Appeals on Friday to question the decision of Labor Sec. Baldoz.

This morning a press conference was held in Quezon City by rival labor groups in support of PALEA’s cause. Aside from PALEA, the following groups attended the presscon: Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines (FASAP), Associated Labor Unions (ALU), Archdiocese of Manila Labor Concerns (AMLC), Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL), Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP), Church Labor Conference (CLC), Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), Manggagawa para sa Kalayaan ng Bayan (MAKABAYAN), National Federation of Labor (NFL), PM, Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), Union Network Philippines (UNP), United Filipino Service Workers (UFSW), United transport Workers Union (UTWU), Urban Missionaries (UM).

Renato Magtubo, PM chairperson, stated that “We call upon P-Noy to reverse the decision of controversial Baldoz decision. Di pa huli ang lahat para ituwid ang baluktot. It is not too late for the government to follow the straight path instead of the crooked road of promoting contractualization.”

The protesters brought placards that read “Baldozer ng labor rights, Resign!,” “Baldoz: Tuta ni Lucio Tan, Resign!,” “DOLE: Libingan ng karapatan ng manggagawa,” “Ayaw namin sa trabahong kontraktwal, trabahong regular ipaglaban,” “End ENDO,” and “Basta Regular kahit di Special, Wag lang Kontraktwal.”

Tomorrow KONTRA will hold a noise barrage at Baclaran and Bicutan while on Wednesday a rally of some 500 workers will be held at the Batasang Pambansa to coincide with the House Labor Committee hearing on the PAL labor dispute. Another noise barrage will be sponsored by KONTRA on Thursday at EDSA cor. GMA-7, Ali Mall in Cubao and at McDonald’s along Quezon Ave.

On Friday a motorcade will be held that will start from the PALEA office, proceed to the Court of Appeals then on to DOLE Intramuros and finally end in the airport area. On the same day, synchronized pickets at local DOLE offices will be held in Cebu, Bacolod, Iloilo, Davao, Dipolog, General Santos City and Zamboanga.

Gerry Rivera, PALEA president insisted that “What will make the coming holidays happy for PAL employees is not receiving separation pay but keeping our regular jobs and securing the future for our families. The offer of separation pay is a pittance compared to the multi-million annual bonuses doled out by PAL to its executives and directors despite its alleged huge losses for the years 2009 and 2010.”