EO vs endo pushed in nationwide rallies at DOLE offices

Workers are holding simultaneous rallies at DOLE offices in key cities as part of a campaign by labor groups who are calling for the signing of an executive order (EO) to abolish contractualization. Members of Partido Manggagawa (PM) and the labor coalition Nagkaisa are picketing this morning the DOLE offices in Intramuros, Calamba, Cebu City, Iloilo City, Bacolod and Davao City.

In a dialogue between labor groups and President Duterte this month, the latter promised to make a decision by March 15 on the former's lobby for an anti-endo EO.  Rene Magtubo, PM chair and spokesperson of Nagkaisa said that “President Duterte won on a campaign platform of abolishing contractualization. Two long years have passed and the promise remains unfulfilled. Duterte criticizes EDSA for its broken promises but his own vow to end endo remains unrealized.”

The rallies will also call on the Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello to act on major labor disputes at firms Lakepower, Coke and Philippine Airlines. Last week the DOLE main office was rocked by rallies of workers of electronics firm Lakepower Converter and employees of Coke. Women workers of Lakepower in Cavite ecozone have been on strike for more than two months now. They are calling on the office of the Labor Secretary to intervene to resolve the protracted dispute. The workers are calling for a stop to the termination and suspension of union officers and members. The dispute has become a litmus test of freedom of association at ecozones.

Last year, the DOLE released a new department order on contractulization called DO 174. “DO 174 however is no different from previous orders which allow contractualization, and give wide latitude to capitalists to subcontract and replace regular employees with contractual workers. Thus we are asking President Duterte to issue an EO to implement his campaign promise of ending contractualization,” Magtubo explained.

The Philippine Airlines union PALEA is also asking the Secretary Bello to expedite the labor inspection report on the use of contract workers in the national flag carrier. Last year, the DOLE conducted a labor inspection of Philippine Airlines and its sister company PAL Express. PALEA, which observed the inpection process as the duly accredited union, insists that the assessment uncovered clear acts of illegal labor-only contracting in the outsourcing program of PAL and PAL Express.

“Massive subcontracting and outsourcing at PAL that has reduced its plantilla of regular workers and bloated its army of contractual workers is not different from PLDT which the DOLE already found as guilty of illegal contracting,” argued Magtubo. The DOLE has also released an order to regularize 8,000 workers and pay millions in money claims.

Photos can be accessed at:

https://www.facebook.com/partidomanggagawa/posts/10156042273339323

https://www.facebook.com/partidomanggagawa/posts/10156042320789323

https://www.facebook.com/partidomanggagawa/posts/10156042324344323

PALEA welcomes promulgation of decision vs. DOJ prosecutor

The union Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) welcomed the promulgation today of a decision by the Sandiganbayan regarding the mulcting case it filed against a prosecutor of the Department of Justice (DOJ). A delegation from PALEA came to the Sandiganbayan this morning to witness the promulgation.

Senior assistant state prosecutor Diosdado Solidum is charged with extorting some P2.5 million in 2013 in exchange for dropping a case against 250 PALEA members for alleged violation of the Civil Aviation Authority Act (CAAP) of 2008 because of its airport protest against outsourcing in September 2011.The protest ended with the forcible eviction by police and guards of PALEA members.

“We welcome the handing down of a decision today and we hope that the Sandiganbayan delivers a conviction on Solidum as there is incontrovertible proof of his guilt. A conviction will render justice for PALEA members whose protest against contractualization in Philippine Airlines (PAL) is not just legal but just. We hope that this small win will ultimately lead to a bigger victory in our fight against endo at PAL,” stated Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and also vice chair of the militant Partido Manggagawa.

PALEA held a protest at the airport in September 27, 2011 in a bid to stop the implementation of a massive outsourcing program that led to the mass termination of some 2,600 employees and their transfer as contractual workers in agencies. PAL charged some 250 PALEA members with violating the CAAP law and a Pasay City prosecutor subsequently affirmed the complaint. Solidum then approached PALEA with the offer of dismissing the case on appeal in return for P10,000 from each of the respondents. Solidum was caught in an entrapment operation in QC authorized by then DOJ head Leila de Lima.

Rivera added that “Our fight for justice has been long and winding. But we are glad that after four years, the Sandiganbayan will now render a decision on Solidum. We will be even more happy if our struggle for reinstatement as regular workers in PAL will finally be concluded.”

“A few days ago President Rodrigo Duterte assailed Lucio Tan-owned PAL for failing to pay CAAP for its debts on the use of airport facilities. As a result PAL has offered to settle the issue by paying P4 billion. We call on President Duterte to ask Lucio Tan and PAL to likewise fulfill their obligation to some 600 PALEA members have yet to be reinstated as regular workers according to the terms of a settlement agreement forged in 2013 to resolve the outsourcing dispute. The President is aware of this as it was brought to his attention in a dialogue with labor groups at Malacanang last February 27,” Rivera insisted.

PALEA is also calling on the Department of Labor and Employment to release the findings of its inspection of PAL, its sister company PAL Express and the 27 agencies contracted in their operations. A similar inspection of telecom company PLDT led to an order to regularize nearly 9,000 agency workers.

“We are confident that simlar to PLDT, PAL and PAL Express will also be found gulity of illegal labor-only contracting and thus be ordered to regularize its thousands of agency workers and reinstate the PALEA 600. This will mean that justice has been served PALEA’s fight, just like a conviction for Solidum today,” Rivera argued.

September 29, 2017

Labor group urges DOLE to prove whether new rules effective for SM group, other giants

Is the new DOLE Order effective or defective in stopping the epidemic of contractualization?  This question was raised by Partido Manggagawa (PM) in a picket-rally held at the Manila branch of SM Monday as Department Order No. 174 is expected to take effect beginning this week.

It can be recalled that the SM group, through its investor relations chief, Cora Guidote, did not seem to worry about the new rules saying it has no impact to the group. “Nothing has changed as far as SM is concerned. No impact to the group,” said Guidote in recent media interview.

PM is one of the labor groups under the Nagkaisa coalition which rejected D.O. 174 when it was issued on March 16, 2017 as it allows agency hiring to continue despite opposition from the labor movement and the pledge made by the President.

“SM Manila is just a stone's throw away from DOLE so its officials, therefore, need not go far other places to prove the usefulness of D.O 174.  The regularization of SM’s entire workforce is a big thing to watch in our continuing fight against contractualization,” said PM Secretary General, Judy Ann Miranda.

Labor groups were making the SM group and other giant companies like PAL the showcase in its continuing campaign against contractualization.  According to estimates, the SM group has at least 90,000 workforce nationwide and it is public knowledge that much of those working in malls as sales ladies, cahiers and dicers work as contractuals. As of late it has only regularized some 4,000 according to DOLE.

According to Miranda, Secretary Bello in countless interviews had always referred to sales ladies as workers who perform ‘necessary and desirable’ jobs that are not allowed to be contracted under the rules. But SM justifies its big number of contractuals as seasonal workers which is allowed under the Labor Code.

Agency hires abound in the service sector but this practice is more pronounced in big companies like malls, hotels and restaurants rather than in small scale enterprises.  About 30% of total workforce in establishments with 20 workers and above is considered ‘non-regular’, according to the latest survey conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority.  An independent study by Center for Women’s Resources (CWR) showed 80-85% of workers in 11 branches of SM in NCR are contractuals. 

“SM should not be allowed to continue hiding their contractual workers under the wrap of different seasons. That is fraudulent. And if D.O. 174 becomes benign to SM, PAL and other giant companies, then the new policy will be a complete failure,” concluded Miranda.

PM also points to export zones as notorious hubs of contractualization where DOLE has been a failure for decades.

April 3, 2017

Contractualization will proliferate under new DOLE order--PM

The militant labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) asserted that contractualization is allowed and will continue to proliferate under the new Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) order named DO 174 issued yesterday.

“News that DO 174 prohibits contractualization is fake! What prohibition? What total ban? DO 174 merely reiterates the bans already provided for in the old DO 18-A. Everything old is presented as new again,” declared Wilson Fortaleza, PM spokesperson.

Members of PM, the union PALEA and other groups under the coalition Nagkaisa held a rally yesterday at the DOLE while the DO 174 was being announced by DOLE Secretary Silvestre Bello. More protests are planned nationwide as a result of labor’s rejection of DO 174. Today in Cebu City, workers are holding a mass action to coincide with a House Labor Committee hearing.

Fortaleza explained that “Bello is acting like Pontius Pilate by passing the ball to Congress on prohibiting all forms of contractualization. The Labor Secretary is vested by Article 106 of the Labor Code with the power to prohibit or restrict labor contracting. Why does he not want exercise this authority to prohibit? Given the irreconcilable positions between employers and workers, why does he side with the capitalists?”

“We want Bello to go. Bello’s order contradicts the President’s directive during the labor dialogue to end contractualization and agency hiring,” Fortaleza said. Labor leaders had a dialogue with President Rodrigo Duterte last February 27 at Malacanang and the latter acceded to the demand to prohibit all forms of contractualization.

“DO 18-A was issued in late 2011 in the wake of PALEA’s resistance to the contractualization scheme at Philippine Airlines. Since D0 18-A merely regulated not prohibited contractualization, the problem of endo has gone from bad to worse over the past five years. With DO 18-A rehashed as DO 174, contractualization will only get worst in the years to come,” Fortaleza extrapolated.

He insisted that “Under DO 174, replacement of regular workers with contractual workers will continue. Agency rather direct hiring will be the norm. Manpower agencies will remain as middleman between principal employers and workers. As lifetime agency employees, the best workers can hope for is a minimum wage while principal employers reap the fruits of labor productivity."

March 17, 2017

Rallyists ask DOLE to act on killings of unionists, endo at PAL

In a rally today at the main office of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), the labor groups Partido Manggagawa (PM) and Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) asked the government to act with dispatch on the wave of killings and abductions of unionists, and the pending endo dispute at Philippine Airlines.

The rallyists demanded the intervention by the DOLE on the endo dispute at Philippine Airlines (PAL) and the enforcement of a settlement agreement that provides for the reinstatement of some 600 PALEA members. Yesterday was the fifth anniversary of the controversial outsourcing program of PAL that resulted in the mass layoff of more than 2,000 regular employees and their transfer as contractual workers in service providers.

“Similar to the task force on media killings formed by the current administration, such a body should be probe the spate of killings and abductions of labor unionists. It is an urgent concern as in this single bloody month of September, two labor leaders were assassinated, six farmers killed and a union officer abducted,” asserted Wilson Fortaleza, spokesperson for PM.

PALEA is calling on the DOLE to administer the implementation by PAL of a settlement agreement forged in 2013 and re-employ some 600 workers terminated in 2011. In September 2011, some 2,600 PAL regular workers were terminated and outsourced to become agency workers. After a two-year fight, PALEA and PAL forged a deal to settle the labor dispute yet some 600 retrenched members have not been re-employed as provided for in the agreement.

Fortaleza added that “The DOLE has a responsibility to stop the culture of impunity that has resulted to the killing and abduction of labor unionists. Forming a task force to probe the attacks on workers and farmers is just a first step. As we have feared, the extra-judicial killings in the wake of the war on drugs has now spilled over into the labor movement. Truly human rights and labor rights are indivisible.”

Last week, Edilberto Miralles, former union president, was gunned down in front of the National Labor Relations Commission. On September 17, Orlando Abangan, a PM leader and organizer in Cebu, was ambushed on his way home. Last Sunday Patricio Tago Jr., a union vice president, was abducted in Tarlac and then imprisoned for allegedly being a drug pusher. Labor groups have called the drug charges as trumped-up.

Besides the latest fatal shooting of a farmer in Palawan, earlier this month, four farmers were shot dead in Nueva Ecija and then a farmer leader killed in Isabela.

September 28, 2016

Church-Labor Conference urges new labor officials to walk the endo talk

On the first day of the Duterte administration, the Church-Labor Conference (CLC) is urging it to start the work on implementing the campaign promise of ending endo.

The CLC, an aggrupation of labor and church groups in the country, is pressing the new set of labor officials to begin the process of stamping out ‘endo’ practices in many industries in close coordination with the trade union movement as well as with other labor dignity advocacy groups around the country. 

The call was made during the #EndEndo #WalkTheEndoTalk action initiated by the CLC at DOLE offices in Intramuros this morning where newly-appointed labor officials render their first day in office.

Established during the height of the global financial crisis in 2009, CLC has become an active member of the Technical Executive Committee (TEC) of the National Tripartite Industrial Peace Council (NTIPC).  CLC is co-chaired by Partido Manggagawa (PM) Chair Renato Magtubo and Manila Auxillary Bishop Broderick Pabillo.

In a statement the CLC expressed its full support to President Rodrigo Duterte’s commitment to stop labor contractualization in the country.  It also welcomes the appointments of Sec. Silvestre Bello III and Joel Maglungsod to head the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

“Contractualization of labor, specifically the practices of unscrupulous employers that directly violate or circumvent labor laws and regulations pertaining to labor contracting and regularization of employment are arguably the gravest threat to our workers’ right to security of tenure,” said CLC.

Contractualization, the group added, is a problem that renders futile the exercise of workers’ other constitutional rights to freedom of association, bargain collectively, concerted action, and living wage. 

“Like the menace of illegal drugs and criminality in the country, it must be stopped! Otherwise, we will become a nation of endos where workers are deprived of their constitutional rights to gainful and productive employment,” stressed the group.

The CLC, however, concedes that addressing contractualization of labor is not that simple as it requires complex and sustainable solutions.  But the group believes that cooperation and the strong resolve of like-minded stakeholders is very important in getting rid of the endo menace.

As a starter the CLC has submitted its 10-Point recommendations for the new DOLE leadership:

(1) Conduct a nationwide labor consultation of workers in the private and public sector aimed at (a) threshing out employment schemes workers have encountered during employment that violates and/or circumvents labor laws and regulations pertaining to labor contracting and regularization of employment; (b) generating proposals to address violation and circumvention of labor laws and regulations; and (c) establishing mechanisms to encourage workers’ participation to President Duterte’s campaign to end contractualization of labor.

(2) Work for the certification by President Duterte of anti-endo bills that are going to be filed in Congress that will strengthen workers’ security of tenure in the private and public sector.

(3) Launch a massive and sustained information and education campaign to workers and employers on the present labor laws and regulations pertaining to labor contracting and regularization of employment.

(4) Conduct a nationwide and sustained inspection of all labor contractors and service providers registered with the DOLE and other government agencies aimed at (a) finding out whether they are compliant with the existing labor laws and regulations pertaining to labor contracting and regularization of employment; and (b) filing cases to violators.

(5) Conduct a nationwide and sustained inspection of all factories and establishments inside and outside of the private and public industrial estates and/or zones aimed at (a) finding out whether they are employing contractual workers and as such compliant with existing labor laws and regulations pertaining to labor contracting and regular employment; and (b) filing cases to violators.

(6) Formulate policies and guidelines to speed-up resolution of cases under the DOLE quasi-judicial bodies on violations of labor laws and regulations pertaining to labor contracting and regularization of employment.

(7) Urgently resolve pending cases and labor disputes related to contractualization.

(8) Establish a separate mechanism comprised of among others representative of unions, the DOLE and the Civil Service Commission (CSC) that will assess and address rampant use of contractual or other forms of non-regular employment in the public sector.

(9) Train and deputize labor leaders to become part of the DOLE pool of inspectors who are mandated to conduct inspections and provide reports and/or recommendations on violations of labor laws and regulations.

(10) Institutionalize the role of tripartite formations in the country as partner of the DOLE in accomplishing President Duterte’s campaign promise to end contractualization of labor.

Church-Labor Conference

July 1, 2016

PALEA calls on Duterte to keep “end endo” promise in a rally near NAIA Terminal 2

To jumpstart the campaign against endo or contractualization at the Philippines Airlines (PAL), the union Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) picketed the company’s Inflight Center (IFC) near the NAIA Terminal 2. The renewed actions are spurred on by the promise of incoming President Rodrigo Duterte to end endo.

Last year, just before Duterte run for president, he met leaders of PALEA in Davao and expressed his opposition to contractualization. PALEA and the militant group Partido Manggagawa (PM) are now asking the President elect to make good on his promise to stop contractualization.

Some 100 PALEA members held a rally on the road leading to the Terminal 2 for about one hour and then marched on to the PAL Nichols office to continue the protest until noon. Later in the afternoon, PALEA officers attended at mediation hearing at the National Conciliation and Mediation Board regarding the pending labor dispute with PAL.

Bong Palad, PALEA national secretary said that “PALEA is calling on PAL to comply with the settlement agreement they offered to PALEA and forged by the two parties in 2013. Specifically PALEA demands the implementation of the re-employment provision in the agreement.”

In September 2011, some 2,600 PAL regular workers were terminated and outsourced to become agency workers. After a two-year fight, PALEA and PAL forged a deal to settle the labor dispute of 2011 yet some 600 retrenched members have not been re-employed as provided for in the agreement.

PM also challenged on Duterte to prove that “change is coming” by rectifying the injustice committed by outgoing president Benigno Aquino who approved the PAL outsourcing scheme   and later threatened an economic sabotage case against PALEA for launching a protest that paralyzed flights.

PM chair Rene Magtubo argued that “A clear and determined path to end endo will be set if the contractualization scheme and scam at PAL is reversed.  by implementation of the settlement agreement with PALEA.”

Photos of the rally can be accessed at https://www.facebook.com/jerry.bagsic/posts/1133381940025534

May 26, 2016

Advisory: PALEA to picket PAL Inflight Center tom

MEDIA ADVISORY

May 25, 2016

Contact Bong Palad @ 09165740596

       Start of renewed campaign to end endo:

PALEA to picket PAL Inflight Center tom

WHAT: In the picket, PALEA will demand the reinstatement of regular workers and implementation of settlement agreement

WHEN:  Tomorrow, May 26 (Thursday), 10:00 a.m.

WHERE: PAL Inflight Center, near NAIA Terminal 2

DETAILS: To jumpstart the campaign against endo or contractualization at the Philippines Airlines (PAL), the union Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) will picket PAL’s Inflight Center. The renewed actions are spurred on by the promise of incoming President Rodrigo Duterte to end endo.

Last year, just before Duterte run for president, he met leaders of PALEA in Davao and expressed his opposition to contractualization. PALEA and the militant group Partido Manggagawa are now asking the president elect to make good on his promise to stop contractualization at PAL and other companies.

PALEA is calling on PAL to implement the settlement agreement forged in 2013 and re-employ some 600 workers terminated in 2011. In September 2011, some 2,600 PAL regular workers were terminated and outsourced to become agency workers. After a two-year fight, PALEA and PAL forged a deal to settle the labor dispute of 2011 yet some 600 retrenched members have not been re-employed as provided for in the agreement.

Workers rally to decry APEC’s pro-business, anti-labor record

In a multisectoral rally today in Manila, the labor party-list group Partido Manggagawa (PM) decried the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit for its “pro-business, anti-labor record.” Several hundred members of PM and other sectoral groups coalesced under the People’s Forum on APEC marched from UST to Liwasang Bonifacio in this major anti-APEC protest. As of the moment, police have blocked the mobilization in front of the Metropolitan Theater.

Rene Magtubo, PM national chair, stated that “Sacrifices born by commuters, students and workers since Monday in lost time due to heavy traffic and lost pay due to holidays as part of the summit are emblematic of the anti-people essence of capitalist globalization that lies at the heart of APEC. APEC is engaging in double-speak as repression of workers’ rights by its member countries belies its inclusive growth tagline. Inclusive growth in APEC countries is impossible without respect for basic labor rights, including the right to unionize and receive living wages.”

He cited as an example that “When Philippine President Benigno Aquino III and South Korean President Park Geun-Hye meet at this APEC summit, they surely talk about promoting trade and investments. But we doubt they will even speak about protecting union rights and decent pay for workers of Korean-owned companies in the Philippines. Yet many ongoing industrial disputes involve Korean-owned factories in the Philippines.”

Workers from two Korean-owned companies based in the country who are now embroiled in labor rows are challenging the leaders of the countries on APEC’s track record on workers’ rights. Employees of power company KEPCO-Cebu and metal factory Tae Sung in Cavite have charged their managements with union busting and have pending labor disputes.

According to Charlie Piamonte, union president of Tae Sung Employees Association (TEA), they filed a notice of strike last November 12 for union busting. He explained that Tae Sung illegally fired union officer Joven Niviar, among other incidents of harassment of union members. The union is planning to conduct a strike vote within the next few days. Under the law, a union may launch a strike seven days after a majority of union members authorize it through a vote. Tae Sung is based in the Cavite Economic Zone in Rosario, Cavite and produces metal parts for the supply chain of multinational companies like American Power Conversion-Schneider Electric, Honda, Mitsubishi, Caterpillar and Siemens.

Meanwhile, Lowell Sanchez, president of the KEPCO Cebu Supervisors Association (KCSA-WSN-Sentro), challenged the government to resolve the long-running labor row that is now the subject of an assumption of jurisdiction (AJ) order from Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz. The KEPCO union filed a notice of strike last June for the unfair dismissal of Sanchez. The planned strike of the KEPCO workers was stopped by an AJ order so that it will not affect the APEC ministers meeting in Cebu last August. KEPCO is South Korea’s state-owned power company and operates coal plants in Cebu and Batangas.

“KEPCO and Tae Sung are crystal clear examples of how APEC has facilitated growth and profit for multinational corporations that operates across borders. And they also fully illustrate how workers have born the sacrifices for the phenomenal economic benefits that corporations have reaped due to APEC. Workers across APEC countries contend with low pay, contractual work and union suppression even as their labor created the doubling of real GDP within APEC between 1989 and 2013,” Magtubo averred.

November 18, 2015

Workers most affected but the richest 1% got all of APEC gains

People walk to Baclaran from NAIA Road (MB Photo by Ali Vicoy)

Lost income, travel ban, road closures and clamp down on protests are all that workers will get this week while APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) VIPs and delegates travel in comfort, ensured of total security, and their agenda heard and advanced during high level meetings.

 

According to the partylist group Partido Manggagaw (PM), this contrast is a mere continuity of the sharp divide that characterizes APEC history – “workers doing the great sacrifice while APEC leaders and the capitalist class take control of enormous wealth and appropriating it among themselves and the region’s 1%.”

 

Members of Partido Manggagawa and the Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) have a scheduled protest against the scourge of contractualization along the Airport Road and Roxas boulevard tomorrow but the total shutdown of the area is preventing many participants, including those coming from Cavite, from linking in.

 

“APEC will neither pay for workers’s lost wages nor care about their lost hours in traffic.  APEC also won’t bother curtailing workers’ rights to protest. These are all because APEC is all for business, its agenda is all about free trade and free market,” stated PM chair Renato Magtubo.

 

Magtubo said that for almost three decades, APEC was nothing but an exclusive gathering of business leaders whose agenda for trade and investments are guaranteed by aligning governments’ legal frameworks on economic policies. 

 

“Workers who created APEC’s USD 31 trillion GDP and facilitated 47% of world trade have never been made part of this Summit.  All of APEC’s agenda come from the top CEOs under the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC),” said Magtubo.

 

According to PM, part of APEC policies that have been pushed by business is labor flexibilization that takes a major form in outsourcing/contractualization programs.  “PAL’s outsourcing program is hailed by its bosses, as well as the Philippine President, as ‘global best practice’, indicating a major shift in the country’s industrial relation,” added Magtubo.

 

“Worldwide labor contractualization has become a plague – a policy that killed trade unionism, destroyed workers’ security of tenure, depressed wages, killed small and medium businesses, and driven millions of workers to unemployment and precarious working conditions in the informal economy,” explained Magtubo.

 

With a population of 2.8 billion people, the APEC economies are also home to the most number of billionaires, while some 750 million poor people live on less than USD 1.25 a day.

 

The Asian Development Bank has in fact noted that Asia’s rising inequality has denied the benefits of growth to many millions of its citizens “as the regions rich get richer much faster than the poor.”

16 November 2015

Request for coverage: Church, labor groups meet today to support PALEA strike

Advisory: PALEA to mobilize for trial of mulcting DOJ fiscal

MEDIA ADVISORY

PALEA

November 8, 2015

Contact Gerry Rivera @ 09165047751

  

PALEA to mobilize for trial of mulcting DOJ fiscal Solidum

WHAT: PALEA members to mobilize for the first hearing in the trial of Diosdado Solidum, DOJ assistant fiscal charged by the union for mulcting

WHEN:  Tomorrow, November 9 (Monday), 8:30 a.m.

WHERE: Sandiganbayan, QC

DETAILS: Solidum was previously suspended on the basis of a complaint by 241 PALEA members for extorting P2.5 million in exchange for the dismissal of a criminal case filed by Philippine Airlines. Former DOJ Secretary Leila de Lima had also cited the entrapment of Solidum as among the accomplishments of her office.

PALEA accuses PAL of dividing union

#BoycottPAL team leafleteering

October 26, 2015

PALEA

The Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) accused the management of Philippine Airlines (PAL) of splitting the union in a bid to weaken its fight against the latest mass layoff at the national flag carrier. PALEA issued this reaction to a story in some news outlets three days ago about six PAL employees opposing the notice of strike filed by PALEA.

To resolve the notice of strike over the recent mass layoff of 117 employees, the Department of Labor and Employment is calling PAL and PALEA to another conciliation meeting today at the Quezon City central office of the National Conciliation and Mediation Board.

With PALEA’s strike deadline nearing, the conciliation meeting is the fourth attempt to settle the labor dispute. In the conciliation today, PALEA will push for the recall of the mass layoff and the reinstatement of the 117 dismissed workers.

“We know for a fact that PAL management is talking to the six employees who are publicly opposing the notice of strike. PAL’s coddling of scabs in the campaign to defend regular jobs is a classic case of divide and conquer,” asserted Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and vice chair of Partido Manggagawa (PM).

Rivera insisted that the latest retrenchment of PAL personnel at domestic airport across the country is part of an “outsourcing spree” since 1998 that had resulted to the dismissal of a total of 5,500 employees and their replacement by contractual workers. “We are determined to stop the epidemic of contractualization in PAL and elsewhere, and to protect job security and decent wages for all Filipino workers,” he explained.

No collective bargaining negotiations between PAL and PALEA has happened since 1998 when a 10-year CBA suspension was imposed. After a two-year fight, PALEA and PAL forged a deal to settle the labor dispute of 2011 yet some 600 retrenched members have not been re-employed as provided for in the agreement. Thus PALEA has asked PAL to open collective bargaining negotiations and fully implement the deal that ended the dispute over the last mass retrenchment in 2011.

Rivera added that “The fact that these six scabs are publicly opposing PALEA’s strike while deafeningly silent on PAL’s layoffs exposes where they stand on the battle between the union and management over contractualization. They are acting as management spokespersons as their statements against PALEA is precisely the line and policy of the company.”

“The six scabs are part of a faction that lost in the PALEA election early this year and are utterly without any mandate to speak on behalf of the union. Still it is to the benefit of management for these scabs to sow intrigue and dish disinformation against PALEA’s legitimate and duly elected officers,” Rivera argued.

Advisory: PAL-PALEA mediation tom as strike deadline nears

MEDIA ADVISORY

PALEA

October 26, 2015

Contact Gerry Rivera @ 09165047751

  

DOLE to hold mediation today on PAL-PALEA dispute as strike deadline nears

WHAT: Mediation meeting between PAL and PALEA on the notice of strike over mass layoff

WHEN:  Today, October 26 (Monday), 10:00 a.m.

WHERE: NCMB-Central office (Arcadia Building, 860 Quezon Ave., QC)

PALEA to demand reinstatement of dismissed workers in conciliation today

Press Release

October 15, 2015

PALEA

The union Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) will demand the recall of the recent mass layoff at Philippine Airlines (PAL) and the reinstatement of the 117 dismissed workers in the conciliation meeting scheduled today. To highlight the demand, PALEA members will hold a picket simultaneous with the mediation talks at the National Conciliation and Mediation Board office at the DOLE Building in Intramuros, Manila.

Today’s mediation is the second after PALEA filed a notice of strike last October 8. PAL announced the separation of 117 employees all working at domestic airports around the country last September 2.

“As we ask for the understanding of the riding public for a strike that may fall on the undas holiday, we also appeal for their solidarity in PALEA’s fight against retrenchment and contractualization. Ang laban ng PALEA ay laban ng lahat,” stated Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and Partido Manggagawa (PM) vice chair.

In threatening to strike, PALEA is alleging unfair labor practice by PAL due to the recent retrenchment and management interference in the right to unionize. The law gives PALEA 15 days after filing before it can actually hold a strike.

Rivera averred that “To avert a strike, we call on PAL to set aside their flimsy excuses for not responding to our demands. Such it seems is squid tactics to hide its inability to justify the illegal termination of 117 employees.”

“The mass layoff is not only illegal but immoral. PAL is firing workers though it is wallowing in profits. PAL’s parent company, PAL Holdings, reported a net income of P5.8 billion ($126.20 million) for the first half of 2015, soaring nearly ten-fold from P560 million ($12.18 million) during the same period last year,” Rivera added.

PALEA is hoping that PAL President Jaime Bautista will attend the mediation meeting today to facilitate resolution of the dispute. As part of its weekly protests, PALEA members picketed PAL offices yesterday around the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

Aside from opposing the latest retrenchment, PALEA is also calling for the opening of collective bargaining negotiation and the full implementation of a settlement agreement that ended the dispute over the last mass retrenchment in 2011.

No collective bargaining negotiation between PAL and PALEA has happened since 1998 when a 10-year CBA suspension was imposed. After a two-year fight, PALEA and PAL forged a deal to settle the labor dispute of 2011 yet some 600 retrenched members have not been re-employed as provided for in the agreement.

#BoycottPAL! Fight contractualization!

Over a strike notice vs. mass layoff: PAL, union conciliation inconclusive

Press Release

October 13, 2015

PALEA

A conciliation meeting yesterday between the management of Philippine Airlines (PAL) and the union Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) ended without any agreement on the issue of the recent mass layoff of 117 employees. The first meeting between PAL and PALEA was called by the National Conciliation and Mediation Board-NCR after the union filed a notice of strike last October 8, allegedly unfair labor practice due to the retrenchment and management interference in the right to unionize. The law gives PALEA 15 days after filing before it can actually hold a strike.

“PAL, through the industrial relations lawyers who attended in behalf of management, was non-committal on the union demand to recall the separation of the 117 employees and their immediate reinstatement. Thus PALEA’s notice of strike stays,” stated Gerry Rivera, PALE president and vice chair of Partido Manggagawa.

Another conciliation meeting is set for Thursday, October 15. PALEA asked that PAL President Jaime Bautista attend the meeting to facilitate resolution of the dispute. As part of its weekly protests, tomorrow PALEA will picket PAL offices around the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

PAL sent termination notices to 117 employees, almost all PALEA members and working in domestic airports around the country last September 2. The notice cited an organizational restructuring which had rendered “several positions in the Company redundant.”

However Rivera argued that “No redundancy exists since the workers retrenched were replaced by agency employees. The new round of layoffs is just another wave of contractualization, changing regular unionized workers with contractual employees who will be paid less in wages and benefits.”

He added that “The mass layoff is not only illegal but immoral. PAL is firing workers though it is wallowing in profits. PAL’s parent company, PAL Holdings, reported a net income of P5.8 billion ($126.20 million) for the first half of 2015, soaring nearly ten-fold from P560 million ($12.18 million) during the same period last year.”

PALEA wrote PAL President Jaime Bautista last September 5 to ask for the recall of the mass layoff. In the same letter, PALEA also repeated its request for the commencement of collective bargaining negotiations, and the resumption of discussions for the implementation of the Settlement Agreement.

No collective bargaining negotiation between PAL and PALEA has happened since 1998 when a 10-year CBA suspension was imposed. After a two-year campaign, PALEA and PAL forged a deal to settle the labor dispute of 2011 yet some 600 retrenched members have not been re-employed as provided for in the agreement.