The intended mass dismissal of more than two 2,600 rank-and-file employees of Philippine Airlines, Inc., who are members and officers of Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA), is in violation of the law and the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) of PAL and PALEA.
In August 2009, during the period for the negotiation of a new CBA between PAL and PALEA, PAL announced its intention to close several departments of the company (In-Flight Catering operations, Airport Services operations and Call Center Reservation operations) and “outsource” its functions to various service providers. The intended closure and “outsourcing” would affect around 70% of PALEA’s membership and the total number of rank-and-file employees, 62% of the union leadership, and around 35% of the total employee complement of PAL.
PALEA maintains that the mass retrenchment is invalid and constitutive of unfair labor practice:
1.) It violates the law and the parties’ CBA.
1.a) The termination of thousands of its regular employees is not necessitated by the company’s financial situation.
1.b) PAL violated the CBA provision against labor contracting.
1.c) PAL violated the CBA provision on Job Security.
2.) It violates Article 248 of the Labor Code, and Department Order No. 18-02.
2.a) Despite PAL’s insistence, what it planned to do was not a “spin-off” but an “outsourcing,” which is equivalent to contracting-out of services.
There is no spin-off of company departments in this case. No subsidiary corporation was formed by PAL, and not one of its divisions was transformed into an independent company. What is involved here is contracting out of functions wherein regular rank-and-file employees and union members will be terminated and the functions that they are performing will be farmed out to service providers. Worse, the terminated regular employees themselves are envisioned to be the employees of the service providers, i.e. upon their termination, they will just be transferred to a different employer but will be performing the same tasks that they had been performing as regular employees of PAL.
Contracting out, whether labor-only contracting or legitimate job contracting, is absolutely prohibited by the parties’ CBA. Section, 4, Article XXIV states:
“Section 4. The Company undertakes not to contract out existing positions, jobs, divisions, and departments presently occupied by present or future regular employees within the collective bargaining unit.”
There are no sufficient bases for retrenchment. Retrenchment is a measure of last resort which should only be undertaken in case of serious and imminent losses. A close review of the financial statements and disclosures of PAL reveals that its business condition is improving and not deteriorating, thereby negating the necessity for retrenchment.
The mass termination of employees constitutes unfair labor practices. It will dissipate union membership and will exclude from the coverage of the bargaining unit the positions that are now held by union members. This will result to the abolition of PALEA. This grim scenario is made even worse when the timing for implementing the retrenchment program is considered. The contracting out of the various departments and the consequent retrenchment of union members are being undertaken at a time when a new CBA between the parties is about to be negotiated. It should not be amiss to state that the CBA negotiation is being proposed by PALEA after more than a decade of suspension of the CBA between the parties. It is aimed at defeating the negotiation of a new CBA.
Job security is also the demand of the PAL pilots and flight crew. Thus PAL management is faced with a three-front war with its airline pilots, flight crew and ground personnel because of its drive to demolish job security, replace regular employees with contractual workers and bust the remaining unions in the company.
The public should know the truth. PAL keeps on repeating the lie that it is losing money and so the workers will have to be the burden of its rehabilitation. Of course PAL will be in the red because the sources of revenues, even its assets, have been transferred to sister companies like MacroAsia and Air Philippines. PAL’s maintenance and engineering department was shifted to MacroAsia and so expenses are charged to the former but the income is reflected in the latter. PAL ground personnel in the outlying stations services Air Philippines so the costs are borne by the former but latter keeps the savings.
Contractualization at PAL is just the tip of the iceberg. In factories, shops, offices and malls contractual workers are working side-by-side with regular employees in doing the same job for lesser pay and worse working conditions. We demand that Congress institute reforms to enhance job security and stop contractualization schemes. PALEA calls for a stop to the race to the bottom in working conditions and labor standards. Ang kontraktwalisasyon ay baluktot na landas.
In the conciliation meeting between PAL and PALEA last Thursday, management moved for the Labor Secretary to decide on the legality of the planned layoff. On the other hand PALEA is asking that mediation continue until an agreement acceptable to both sides is forged.
Showing posts with label PAL takeover. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PAL takeover. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Contractualization is the cause of PAL labor row
Press Statement
August 17, 2010
Gerry Rivera
President. PAL Employees’ Association (PALEA)
Vice Chairperson, Partido ng Manggagawa (PM)
The scourge of labor contractualization lies at the root of the labor dispute at Philippine Airlines. The contracting out of jobs of the ground personnel will lead to the massive layoff of some 3,000 PAL employees. Regular employees will be retired from PAL only to be rehired as contractual workers in companies owned by Lucio Tan’s Kamag-anak Inc. These companies will be money-earning service providers to PAL and so we end up doing the same work as before but for cheaper pay, less benefits and no security of tenure.
Job security is also the demand of the PAL pilots and flight crew. Thus PAL management is faced with a three-front war with its airline pilots, flight crew and ground personnel because of its drive to demolish job security, replace regular employees with contractual workers and bust the remaining unions in the company.
The public should know the truth. PAL keeps on repeating the lie that it is losing money and so the workers will have to be the burden of its rehabilitation. Of course PAL will be in the red because the sources of revenues, even its assets, have been transferred to sister companies like MacroAsia and Air Philippines. PAL’s maintenance and engineering department was shifted to MacroAsia and so expenses are charged to the former but the income is reflected in the latter. PAL ground personnel in the outlying stations services Air Philippines so the costs are borne by the former but latter keeps the savings.
The Department of Labor and Employment has assumed jurisdiction (AJ) of the PAL labor dispute and this has enjoined PALEA from proceeding with a strike. The AJ should also stop management from making any actions that will exacerbate the dispute. However in violation of the AJ, PAL is shifting work from its in house call reservations center to an outside contractor. Reservations calls are being rerouted to ePLDT Ventus while dropped calls are answered by PAL’s call center department. Thus regular jobs are being transferred to an outside contractor and only excess work is maintained in PAL.
Contractualization at PAL is just the tip of the iceberg. In factories, shops, offices and malls contractual workers are working side-by-side with regular employees in doing the same job for lesser pay and worse working conditions. We demand that President Aquino make concrete his promise that democracy should work for all by instituting reforms to enhance job security and stop contractualization schemes. We call for a stop to the race to the bottom in working conditions and labor standards. Ang kontraktwalisasyon ay baluktot na landas.
In the conciliation meeting between PAL and PALEA last Thursday, management moved for the Labor Secretary to decide on the legality of the planned layoff. On the other hand PALEA is asking that mediation continue until an agreement acceptable to both sides is forged.
But even as we negotiate in good faith we have to be prepared for all eventualities including the necessity of a strike if the planned layoff pushes through. Thus we are appealing for support and understanding from fellow workers, institutions such as the Church and the broad public. Our job is our life and if necessary we will strike to defend our livelihood for the sake of our families.
August 17, 2010
Gerry Rivera
President. PAL Employees’ Association (PALEA)
Vice Chairperson, Partido ng Manggagawa (PM)
The scourge of labor contractualization lies at the root of the labor dispute at Philippine Airlines. The contracting out of jobs of the ground personnel will lead to the massive layoff of some 3,000 PAL employees. Regular employees will be retired from PAL only to be rehired as contractual workers in companies owned by Lucio Tan’s Kamag-anak Inc. These companies will be money-earning service providers to PAL and so we end up doing the same work as before but for cheaper pay, less benefits and no security of tenure.
Job security is also the demand of the PAL pilots and flight crew. Thus PAL management is faced with a three-front war with its airline pilots, flight crew and ground personnel because of its drive to demolish job security, replace regular employees with contractual workers and bust the remaining unions in the company.
The public should know the truth. PAL keeps on repeating the lie that it is losing money and so the workers will have to be the burden of its rehabilitation. Of course PAL will be in the red because the sources of revenues, even its assets, have been transferred to sister companies like MacroAsia and Air Philippines. PAL’s maintenance and engineering department was shifted to MacroAsia and so expenses are charged to the former but the income is reflected in the latter. PAL ground personnel in the outlying stations services Air Philippines so the costs are borne by the former but latter keeps the savings.
The Department of Labor and Employment has assumed jurisdiction (AJ) of the PAL labor dispute and this has enjoined PALEA from proceeding with a strike. The AJ should also stop management from making any actions that will exacerbate the dispute. However in violation of the AJ, PAL is shifting work from its in house call reservations center to an outside contractor. Reservations calls are being rerouted to ePLDT Ventus while dropped calls are answered by PAL’s call center department. Thus regular jobs are being transferred to an outside contractor and only excess work is maintained in PAL.
Contractualization at PAL is just the tip of the iceberg. In factories, shops, offices and malls contractual workers are working side-by-side with regular employees in doing the same job for lesser pay and worse working conditions. We demand that President Aquino make concrete his promise that democracy should work for all by instituting reforms to enhance job security and stop contractualization schemes. We call for a stop to the race to the bottom in working conditions and labor standards. Ang kontraktwalisasyon ay baluktot na landas.
In the conciliation meeting between PAL and PALEA last Thursday, management moved for the Labor Secretary to decide on the legality of the planned layoff. On the other hand PALEA is asking that mediation continue until an agreement acceptable to both sides is forged.
But even as we negotiate in good faith we have to be prepared for all eventualities including the necessity of a strike if the planned layoff pushes through. Thus we are appealing for support and understanding from fellow workers, institutions such as the Church and the broad public. Our job is our life and if necessary we will strike to defend our livelihood for the sake of our families.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
PAL labor row intensifies as ground crew union prepares for strike
Press Release
August 12, 2010
The Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA), the ground crew union at Philippine Airlines (PAL), met management in a mediation meeting this afternoon at the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) but announced that it is prepared to do everything to stop the disputed contracting out of jobs. “Our job is our life and if necessary we will strike to defend our livelihood for the sake of our families,” declared Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) vice chairperson.
PALEA’s readiness to strike intensifies the labor row at PAL with none of the resigned pilots returning and the flight attendants union threatening to stop work unless the deadlock in collective bargaining negotiations is resolved. PAL’s ongoing labor dispute with its ground crew arose out of the planned contracting out of jobs that will lead to the layoff of some 3,000 employees. Workers in airport services, inflight catering and ticketing reservations will be retrenched and then rehired as contractuals in service providers also owned by Lucio Tan to do the same job for less pay and no job security.
“PAL is faced with a three-front war with its airline pilots, flight crew and ground personnel because of its drive to demolish job security, replace regular employees with contractual workers and bust the remaining unions in the company. We are asking the government of P-Noy through Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz to review the policy on contractualization and strengthen protection for job security or else it faces a wave of labor unrest,” explained Renato Magtubo, PM chairperson.
PM members joined PALEA and other labor groups in a picket today to ask the DOLE to tighten regulations and plug loopholes that have allowed employers to massively supplant regular work with contractual labor. “In factories, shops and offices contractual workers are working side-by-side with regular employees in doing the same job for less pay, no benefits and without security off tenure. Contractualization at PAL is simply the tip of the iceberg. We demand that President Aquino make concrete his promise that democracy should work for all by instituting reforms to enhance job security and stop contractualization schemes,” argued Magtubo.
The mediation meeting today arose out of PALEA’s pending motion for reconsideration of the former Acting Labor Secretary Romeo Lagman’s “midnight decision” that affirmed PAL management’s prerogative to contract out jobs of ground crew. “We welcome the preference of Secretary Baldoz to mediate the dispute on job contracting in PAL unlike Lagman who unilaterally issued a midnight decision favoring management. But even as we negotiate in good faith we have to be prepared for all eventualities including the necessity to strike if the planned layoff pushes through,” Rivera stated.
August 12, 2010
The Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA), the ground crew union at Philippine Airlines (PAL), met management in a mediation meeting this afternoon at the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) but announced that it is prepared to do everything to stop the disputed contracting out of jobs. “Our job is our life and if necessary we will strike to defend our livelihood for the sake of our families,” declared Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) vice chairperson.
PALEA’s readiness to strike intensifies the labor row at PAL with none of the resigned pilots returning and the flight attendants union threatening to stop work unless the deadlock in collective bargaining negotiations is resolved. PAL’s ongoing labor dispute with its ground crew arose out of the planned contracting out of jobs that will lead to the layoff of some 3,000 employees. Workers in airport services, inflight catering and ticketing reservations will be retrenched and then rehired as contractuals in service providers also owned by Lucio Tan to do the same job for less pay and no job security.
“PAL is faced with a three-front war with its airline pilots, flight crew and ground personnel because of its drive to demolish job security, replace regular employees with contractual workers and bust the remaining unions in the company. We are asking the government of P-Noy through Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz to review the policy on contractualization and strengthen protection for job security or else it faces a wave of labor unrest,” explained Renato Magtubo, PM chairperson.
PM members joined PALEA and other labor groups in a picket today to ask the DOLE to tighten regulations and plug loopholes that have allowed employers to massively supplant regular work with contractual labor. “In factories, shops and offices contractual workers are working side-by-side with regular employees in doing the same job for less pay, no benefits and without security off tenure. Contractualization at PAL is simply the tip of the iceberg. We demand that President Aquino make concrete his promise that democracy should work for all by instituting reforms to enhance job security and stop contractualization schemes,” argued Magtubo.
The mediation meeting today arose out of PALEA’s pending motion for reconsideration of the former Acting Labor Secretary Romeo Lagman’s “midnight decision” that affirmed PAL management’s prerogative to contract out jobs of ground crew. “We welcome the preference of Secretary Baldoz to mediate the dispute on job contracting in PAL unlike Lagman who unilaterally issued a midnight decision favoring management. But even as we negotiate in good faith we have to be prepared for all eventualities including the necessity to strike if the planned layoff pushes through,” Rivera stated.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Kontraktwalisasyon sa PAL, idudulog ng mga manggagawa sa Kongreso
PRESS RELEASE
9 August 2010
Susugod sa Batasan Complex ang mga empleyado ng Philippine Airlines ganap na ala-una ng hapon mamaya para idulog sa Kongreso ang kanilang mga hinaing laban sa kompanya na pag-aari ni Lucio Tan.
Ayon kay Gerry Rivera, pangulo ng Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA), idudulog nila sa Kamara ang pinaplanong malawakang tanggalan at kontraktwalisasyon sa PAL kung saan maaring umabot sa 3,000 empleyado ang maapektuhan.
Kasama ng PALEA sa isasagawang pagkilos ang mga kinatawan ng KONTRA, ang alyansa ng ibat-ibang samahan ng manggagawa na lumalaban sa patakaran ng kontraktwalisasyon.
Alas dos ng hapon ay nakatakdang maghain ng resolusyon sa Kamara si Akbayan Representative Arlene “Kaka” Bag-ao kaugnay ng kontraktwalisasyon sa PAL at alas kwatro naman ay magsasagawa ng privilege speech sa parehong isyu ang kinatawan ng Trade Union Congress of the Philippines na si Congresman Raymond Mendoza.
Sinabi ni Rivera na gaya ng reklamo ng mga piloto na downgrading ng kanilang status, ang mga ground crew at flight attendant ng PAL ay nangangamba rin sa kanilang job security dahil balak nang kompanya na magbawas ng empleyado at gawing kontraktwal ang mga regular sa pamamagitan ng isasagawang outsourcing ng ibat-ibang serbisyo ng PAL gaya ng passenger handling, cargo handling, at customer care. Sa mga flight attendants naman ay ibaba sa 40 ang kanilang retirement age, bagay na labis nilang tinututulan.
Lahat umano ng balakin ng kompanya para makawala sa pagkalugi ay pawang kontra sa kapakanan ng manggagawa at tahasang paglabag sa mga istandard ng paggawa na kinikilala ng ating mga batas at international conventions.
Nakakamuhi umanong isipin na habang hinihikayat pabalik ng PAL ang mga nagbitiw na piloto ay sinisipa naman nito palayo ang libu-libo pa nitong empleyado.
Ayon naman kay Judy Ann Miranda, secretary-general ng Partido ng Manggagawa, nararapat lang na makialam ngayon ang Kongreso sa problemang ito, kabaliktaran ng pananahimik nito sa isyu noong1998 nang ipatupad ang iligal na 10 taong moratorium sa CBA ng PALEA at PAL.
Bukas ng umaga ay nakatakda rin umanong magharap sa deparment of labor ang management at mga lider ng Flight Attendants’ and Stewards’ Association of the Philippines (FASAP) para naman sa matagal nang ibinibinbin na CBA negotiations sa kanila ng PAL management.
9 August 2010
Susugod sa Batasan Complex ang mga empleyado ng Philippine Airlines ganap na ala-una ng hapon mamaya para idulog sa Kongreso ang kanilang mga hinaing laban sa kompanya na pag-aari ni Lucio Tan.
Ayon kay Gerry Rivera, pangulo ng Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA), idudulog nila sa Kamara ang pinaplanong malawakang tanggalan at kontraktwalisasyon sa PAL kung saan maaring umabot sa 3,000 empleyado ang maapektuhan.
Kasama ng PALEA sa isasagawang pagkilos ang mga kinatawan ng KONTRA, ang alyansa ng ibat-ibang samahan ng manggagawa na lumalaban sa patakaran ng kontraktwalisasyon.
Alas dos ng hapon ay nakatakdang maghain ng resolusyon sa Kamara si Akbayan Representative Arlene “Kaka” Bag-ao kaugnay ng kontraktwalisasyon sa PAL at alas kwatro naman ay magsasagawa ng privilege speech sa parehong isyu ang kinatawan ng Trade Union Congress of the Philippines na si Congresman Raymond Mendoza.
Sinabi ni Rivera na gaya ng reklamo ng mga piloto na downgrading ng kanilang status, ang mga ground crew at flight attendant ng PAL ay nangangamba rin sa kanilang job security dahil balak nang kompanya na magbawas ng empleyado at gawing kontraktwal ang mga regular sa pamamagitan ng isasagawang outsourcing ng ibat-ibang serbisyo ng PAL gaya ng passenger handling, cargo handling, at customer care. Sa mga flight attendants naman ay ibaba sa 40 ang kanilang retirement age, bagay na labis nilang tinututulan.
Lahat umano ng balakin ng kompanya para makawala sa pagkalugi ay pawang kontra sa kapakanan ng manggagawa at tahasang paglabag sa mga istandard ng paggawa na kinikilala ng ating mga batas at international conventions.
Nakakamuhi umanong isipin na habang hinihikayat pabalik ng PAL ang mga nagbitiw na piloto ay sinisipa naman nito palayo ang libu-libo pa nitong empleyado.
Ayon naman kay Judy Ann Miranda, secretary-general ng Partido ng Manggagawa, nararapat lang na makialam ngayon ang Kongreso sa problemang ito, kabaliktaran ng pananahimik nito sa isyu noong1998 nang ipatupad ang iligal na 10 taong moratorium sa CBA ng PALEA at PAL.
Bukas ng umaga ay nakatakda rin umanong magharap sa deparment of labor ang management at mga lider ng Flight Attendants’ and Stewards’ Association of the Philippines (FASAP) para naman sa matagal nang ibinibinbin na CBA negotiations sa kanila ng PAL management.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Job security at the heart of recurring labor problems in PAL
PRESS RELEASE
August 5, 2010
The Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) agreed with Malacanang’s initial view that the problems besetting the Philippine Airlines (PAL) is more than the pilots’ decision to seek better paying jobs elsewhere.
The group insists that at the heart of the continuing labor disputes in PAL is job security and the regression in labor standards in the flag carrier.
“A regression in labor standards in Asia’s first airline is a scorn to Filipino’s pride that is supposed to be flying high with the flag carrier,” said the group in a statement.
Partido ng Manggagawa chair Renato Magtubo, said the current resignations of PAL pilots, the ground crews’ struggle against spinoff and contractualization and the flight attendants fight for job security, “all speak of deteriorating labor standards at the flag carrier and as such warrant an active intervention if the government intends to correct this rocky labor-management relations in PAL.”
Magtubo, who’s group has been involved with the PAL employees struggle for job security since the 1998 strike believes that the pilots’ mass resignations and the company’s unresolved disputes with the Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) and the Flight Attendants and Stewardees Association of the Philippines (FASAP) may again lead to a full-blown strike if the company refuses to heed the employees demands and the government fail to carry out proper intervention.
Proper government intervention, according to Magtubo, can be done by invoking not just the ‘national interest’ but also the ‘social justice’ provision of the Constitution declaring a State policy recognizing the primacy of labor over capital.
On Agust 12, PALEA has a scheduled conciliation meeting with the management and the labor department on the planned spinoff of PAL’s ground handling operations to other Tan companies. The plan will result to the mass layoff of some 2,600 ground crew pesonnels as they shift from regular to contractual work arrangements with the spinoff companies.
PALEA describes the plan as a ‘massive contractualization of regular employees’ thus it is seeking the reversal of the ‘midnight decision’ by then acting secretary Romeo Lagman rendering legality for the planned contractualization scheme.
The FASAP is also struggling against the lowering of their retirement age to 40 and several other issues affecting their job security.
August 5, 2010
The Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) agreed with Malacanang’s initial view that the problems besetting the Philippine Airlines (PAL) is more than the pilots’ decision to seek better paying jobs elsewhere.
The group insists that at the heart of the continuing labor disputes in PAL is job security and the regression in labor standards in the flag carrier.
“A regression in labor standards in Asia’s first airline is a scorn to Filipino’s pride that is supposed to be flying high with the flag carrier,” said the group in a statement.
Partido ng Manggagawa chair Renato Magtubo, said the current resignations of PAL pilots, the ground crews’ struggle against spinoff and contractualization and the flight attendants fight for job security, “all speak of deteriorating labor standards at the flag carrier and as such warrant an active intervention if the government intends to correct this rocky labor-management relations in PAL.”
Magtubo, who’s group has been involved with the PAL employees struggle for job security since the 1998 strike believes that the pilots’ mass resignations and the company’s unresolved disputes with the Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) and the Flight Attendants and Stewardees Association of the Philippines (FASAP) may again lead to a full-blown strike if the company refuses to heed the employees demands and the government fail to carry out proper intervention.
Proper government intervention, according to Magtubo, can be done by invoking not just the ‘national interest’ but also the ‘social justice’ provision of the Constitution declaring a State policy recognizing the primacy of labor over capital.
On Agust 12, PALEA has a scheduled conciliation meeting with the management and the labor department on the planned spinoff of PAL’s ground handling operations to other Tan companies. The plan will result to the mass layoff of some 2,600 ground crew pesonnels as they shift from regular to contractual work arrangements with the spinoff companies.
PALEA describes the plan as a ‘massive contractualization of regular employees’ thus it is seeking the reversal of the ‘midnight decision’ by then acting secretary Romeo Lagman rendering legality for the planned contractualization scheme.
The FASAP is also struggling against the lowering of their retirement age to 40 and several other issues affecting their job security.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Labor group cautions government against PAL takeover
Press Release
August 3, 2010
The Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) expressed caution on the proposal for a government takeover of Philippine Airlines (PAL) in case the labor row with pilots is unresolved. “The government can exercise eminent domain and police power to takeover PAL if the labor problems are unsettled but that will only sweep the dirt under the rug without actually cleaning the house. Unless the grievances of the airline pilots, flight attendants and ground crew are redressed now then labor unrest will simply simmer and explode later,” argued Renato Magtubo, PM chairperson.
The labor group instead called on the Aquino government to mediate PAL’s labor dispute with the aim of addressing the workers’ demands. “A better option is for the Aquino government to apply social justice so it can resolve the problem of contractualization that lies at the root of labor unrest at PAL. PAL is not simply competing with Cebu Pacific but they are copying the contractualization scheme that is rampant in its rival,” Magtubo asserted.
Gerry Rivera, PM vice-chairperson and president of the Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA), emphasized that “Contractualization is the cause of deteriorating working conditions at PAL. PAL farmed out its pilots to sister company Air Philippines and thereby effectively demoted them. How can you fault the pilots then for leaving the sweatshop conditions at PAL for the good pay, regular status and better working environment offered abroad?”
Aside from the pilots’ resignation, PAL is faced with an ongoing labor dispute with its ground crew over the planned contracting out of jobs that will lead to the layoff of some 3,000 employees and the threat of a strike by flight attendants over a deadlock in collective bargaining negotiations. Rivera declared that the ground crew, flight attendants and PAL pilots are now in talks in order to defend job security and working conditions at the country’s biggest domestic and international carrier.
He also announced that PALEA is scheduled to attend a conciliation meeting called by the Department of Labor and Employment on August 12. PALEA has a pending motion for reconsideration of the former Acting Labor Secretary Romeo Lagman’s “midnight decision” that affirmed PAL management’s prerogative to contract out jobs of ground crew to third party companies that employees alleged are also owned by Lucio Tan.
Aside from a reform of the policy on labor contractualization, PM is also calling on the government to lift the six-month prior notice on the migration of workers who are categorized as mission-critical skills for unduly disadvantaging labor.
August 3, 2010
The Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) expressed caution on the proposal for a government takeover of Philippine Airlines (PAL) in case the labor row with pilots is unresolved. “The government can exercise eminent domain and police power to takeover PAL if the labor problems are unsettled but that will only sweep the dirt under the rug without actually cleaning the house. Unless the grievances of the airline pilots, flight attendants and ground crew are redressed now then labor unrest will simply simmer and explode later,” argued Renato Magtubo, PM chairperson.
The labor group instead called on the Aquino government to mediate PAL’s labor dispute with the aim of addressing the workers’ demands. “A better option is for the Aquino government to apply social justice so it can resolve the problem of contractualization that lies at the root of labor unrest at PAL. PAL is not simply competing with Cebu Pacific but they are copying the contractualization scheme that is rampant in its rival,” Magtubo asserted.
Gerry Rivera, PM vice-chairperson and president of the Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA), emphasized that “Contractualization is the cause of deteriorating working conditions at PAL. PAL farmed out its pilots to sister company Air Philippines and thereby effectively demoted them. How can you fault the pilots then for leaving the sweatshop conditions at PAL for the good pay, regular status and better working environment offered abroad?”
Aside from the pilots’ resignation, PAL is faced with an ongoing labor dispute with its ground crew over the planned contracting out of jobs that will lead to the layoff of some 3,000 employees and the threat of a strike by flight attendants over a deadlock in collective bargaining negotiations. Rivera declared that the ground crew, flight attendants and PAL pilots are now in talks in order to defend job security and working conditions at the country’s biggest domestic and international carrier.
He also announced that PALEA is scheduled to attend a conciliation meeting called by the Department of Labor and Employment on August 12. PALEA has a pending motion for reconsideration of the former Acting Labor Secretary Romeo Lagman’s “midnight decision” that affirmed PAL management’s prerogative to contract out jobs of ground crew to third party companies that employees alleged are also owned by Lucio Tan.
Aside from a reform of the policy on labor contractualization, PM is also calling on the government to lift the six-month prior notice on the migration of workers who are categorized as mission-critical skills for unduly disadvantaging labor.
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