Workers push for anti-endo EO in airport march

Labor groups are pushing for an executive order (EO) to prohibit contractualization and replace the DO 174 of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). Members of the union Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) and Partido Manggagawa (PM) marched at the airport today in support of the proposed EO. 

“Filipino workers demand an end to endo as promised by President Rodrigo Duterte. DOLE’s DO 174 falls short of abolishing endo as it merely regulates contractualization, no different from previous orders. Thus the need for an EO that actually prohibits endo,” argued Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and vice-chair of PM.

About a hundred PALEA and PM members marched from the union headquarters at Baclaran to the Philippine Airlines In-Flight Center near the NAIA Terminal 2.

Yesterday different labor groups such as PM, PALEA, the labor coalition Nagkaisa and TUCP-Herrera wing finalized the draft EO and submitted it to the office of DOLE Secretary Silvestre Bello. A counterpart EO on contractualization within public sector was also presented.

The two EO’s will then be endorsed for signing by President Rodrigo Duterte, as agreed upon in a dialogue between labor groups and the Secretary Bello last Nov. 8. The workers groups are also calling for another dialogue between labor and President Duterte to get the administration’s commitment to the EO prohibiting contractualization.

In the rally today, PALEA also called on President Duterte to ask Lucio Tan and PAL to likewise fulfill their obligation to some 600 retrenched PAL workers who have yet to be reinstated as regular workers according to the terms of a settlement agreement forged in 2013 to resolve the outsourcing dispute. President Duterte is aware of this as it was brought to his attention in a dialogue with labor groups at Malacanang last February 27.

“Four years ago last November 14, 2013, PAL signed a deal to end the contractualization row at the national flag carrier. PALEA complied with the terms of the settlement agreement including the dismantling of the picketline at the In-Flight Center. PAL however has not honored the most important provision of the agreement which is the re-employment of the outsourced workers,” explained Rivera.

The picket also coincides with a “Global Day of Action against Union Repression” that was observed by workers in Australia, Asia and North America. Yesterday, about a hundred export zone workers in Cavite held a rally as part of the global day of action.

Photos of the airport rally can be accessed at:

https://www.facebook.com/partidomanggagawa/posts/10155780455514323

https://www.facebook.com/partidomanggagawa/posts/10155780460814323

PALEA

November 17, 2017

PAL asked to pay debts to outsourced workers

After arrears settled to gov’t:

PAL asked to pay debts to outsourced workers

With Philippine Airlines (PAL) settling yesterday its arrears to the government amounting to some P6 billion, the the union Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) called on the national flag carrier to likewise pay its debt to its outsourced workers. PALEA is demanding that PAL implement the settlement agreement forged in 2013 to end the long-running dispute and reinstate some 600 outsourced workers.

Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and vice chair of the militant Partido Manggagawa, said that “PALEA is calling on President Duterte to ask Lucio Tan and PAL to likewise fulfill their obligation to some 600 retrenched PAL workers who have yet to be reinstated as regular workers according to the terms of a settlement agreement forged in 2013 to resolve the outsourcing dispute. President Duterte is aware of this as it was brought to his attention in a dialogue with labor groups at Malacanang last February 27.”

President Rodrigo Duterte had assailed Lucio Tan-owned PAL for failing to pay CAAP for its debts on the use of airport facilities. Last October 4, PALEA held a picket at office of the Civil Aviation Administration of the Philippines (CAAP) to ask Philippine Airlines (PAL) to pay its debts to the government and its workers. In the picket, PALEA members held placards that read “PAL singilin sa utang sa gobyerno. Panagutin din sa pagkakasala sa obrero,” “Bayaran ang utang. Ibalik sa trabaho ang manggagawang tinanggal” and “Reinstate the PALEA 600.”

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,” Rivera argued.

Yesterday, various labor and church groups, including PALEA and PM, met at the Arzobispado de Manila in Intramuros to assess the ongoing campaign against contractualization and vowed to push the administration of President Duterte to make good on its promise to end endo. Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo reiterated the support of the Catholic Church to the fight of workers for regular jobs, including the reinstatement of the PALEA 600.

PALEA

November 4, 2017

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

Workers slam PAL labor violations in Ayala rally

Members of labor groups marched in Ayala Ave. today in a preview of the big workers rally for Labor Day and to slam Philippine Airlines (PAL) for labor violations in the agencies it has contracted. Workers from the Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) and Partido Manggagawa (PM) marched this afternoon from the Makati fire station to the PNB headquarters which also houses PAL offices.

“The inspections conducted by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) with the participation of PALEA members have uncovered breaches of general labor and occupational safety standards. Also exposed by the inspection is the fact that agency workers are doing the work of formerly regular workers. That means PAL is guilty of breaking the law and rules on contractualization,” explained Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and PM vice-chair.

Last week, DOLE announced in a press conference that inspections conducted through the Special Assessment or Visit of Establishments (SAVE) found PAL and telecom company PLDT guilty of violating labor and safety rules, including on subcontracting. DOLE Secretary Silvestre Bello even proclaimed that he will order the regularization of some 10,000 PLDT agency workers as a consequence.

Rivera insisted that “PAL must remediate the transgressions of its controversial outsourcing scheme by reinstating the 600 PALEA members as per the provisions of a settlement agreement and terminate the use of service providers that have displaced the jobs of regular employees.”

“The protest march today at the country’s central business district on the eve of ASEAN is also a condemnation of the anti-labor and pro-business agenda of the meetings. Labor rights are being sacrificed at the altar of trade liberalization through ASEAN and other multilateral institutions like the WTO and APEC,” insisted Rene Magtubo, PM chair.

SAVE inspections conducted by DOLE and PALEA at PAL and PAL Express are still ongoing as only operations in provinvial airports have been assessed and offices in Metro Manila are yet to be visited. Rivera also blasted PAL for sabotaging the inspections by questioning PALEA’s participation and delaying the conduct of SAVE in its Metro Manila operations.

PALEA and PM are participating in the nationwide Labor Day rallies led by the coalition Nagkaisa. On May 1, Nagkaisa members will assemble at Welcome Rotonda at 7:30 am and then march to Mendiola for a program to call for a scrapping of the newly released DO 174, an end to all forms of contractualization and the protection of labor and human rights.

Also PM-Kabataan, the youth wing of PM, is also a holding a mass action at Welcome Rotonda at 4:00 pm on April 30 to highlight the pressing concerns of young workers like unemployment, contractualization and decent wages and benefits.

April 26, 2017

Labor yearender: Workers haunted by endo, EJK’s in 2016

The broken promise of ending endo and the spillover of the war on drugs to trade unionists were the big issues that confronted workers in 2016. Still like the rest of Filipinos, workers bid goodbye to the bad news of 2016 and look forward to good tidings in 2017. A hope for the coming year is the forging of an alliance for real change between millennial students and militant workers.

The year seemed to augur well for workers as all the presidential candidates, in a widely televised debate during the election campaign, promised to stop the pernicious practice of contractualization. After his resounding victory, Rodrigo Duterte followed through on that pledge with pronouncements that endo will be abolished and directed the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to ensure this policy shift.

The new DOLE Secretary Silvestre Bello announced that a new department order on contractualization will be issued by the end of 2016 after tripartite consultations. Indeed three labor summits were even convened for Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

However the new draft DOLE DO 30, to replace DO 18-A promulgated under President Benino Aquino III, has been universally condemned by the full spectrum of labor groups, from the moderate to the militant. DO 30 has been soundly rejected by organized labor as continuing rather than prohibiting outsourcing, subcontracting and other forms of contractualization. The ball in now in halls of Malacanang as the labor coalition Nagkaisa has called on DU30 to nix DO 30 and instead uphold his promise of ending endo.

Aside from the epic fail of DO 30, another bitter disappointment for workers was the government’s lack of success in resolving the outsourcing dispute at Philippine Airlines (PAL). For months, the DOLE mediated meetings between PAL and the union PALEA on the issue of reinstating 600 employees who have bravely resisted endo at the flag carrier. Yet this December, the DOLE refused to order PAL to enforce a settlement agreement that provides for the re-employment of the PALEA 600. Bello’s DOLE did a Pontius Pilate and ordered that the courts should instead resolve the PAL-PALEA dispute.

Meanwhile, as many have feared, the bloody war on drugs finally caught up with ranks of organized labor. In the single month of September, two labor leaders were ambushed vigilante style, six farmers killed and a union officer arrested by police on trumped up drug charges. Just days apart, PM-Cebu leader Orlando Abangan was ambushed on his way home while former union president Edilberto Miralles was gunned down in front of the National Labor Relations Commission. In the heat of preparations for union certification elections, Patricio Tago Jr., a union vice president, was abducted in Tarlac by police and then imprisoned for allegedly being a drug pusher. Calls for tripartite consultations and convening a task force on violent attacks on unionists fell on deaf ears.

Various labor groups have blamed the culture of impunity for the spillover of killings onto the ranks of unionists. The groups have called for a stop to the killings and the war on drugs itself. They also point out to the fact that the war on drugs has indiscriminately targeted the poor and unemployed, which comprise practically the 6,000 people killed so far.

So before the end of the year, increasingly disillusioned over the Duterte administration’s failed promise of ending endo, enacting social reforms like a living wage, and implementing the “change is coming” slogan, militant workers were ready to link up arms with millennial students who took the lead in spontaneous protests against the hero’s burial for the dictator Marcos.

Thus barely two weeks after the surprise interment of Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, labor’s traditional Bonifacio Day marches became an occasion for militant workers to join the #MarcosHindiBayani campaign. Student groups sent delegations to the traditional workers rally in the morning and the labor groups sent contingents to the evening protest at the People Power Monument against the Marcos burial.

With 2016 drawing to a close and 2017 about to open, it is time to remember the past even as the people look forward to the future. During the dark days of martial law, it was the student and workers movement that was the backbone of the people’s resistance against the Marcos dictatorship. Martyrs from the ranks of the students, workers and other sectors are the real heroes of our country.

Marcos was ousted in a people power uprising but all the succeeding governments failed to topple the structures of injustice and oppression that mired Filipinos in dire poverty. Thus this led to a section of the population prey to the historical revisionism and political ambitions of the Marcoses. Likewise to a mass of Filipinos susceptible to the wiles of a president who insists that the country’s problems can be reduced to drugs and criminality. The present generation of students and workers face the challenge of continuing the unfinished fight of the anti-dictatorship movement for real change.

December 30, 2016

Workers doubt DOLE claim of new regulars

The labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) expressed doubt on the announcement of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) that 25,000 contractuals have been regularized. DOLE Secretary Silvestre Bello made the claim in a press conference in Malacanang.

“As much as we welcome thousands upon thousands of endo workers becoming regular employees, we are skeptical of DOLE’s claim because our own experience is that employers are extremely resistant to regularization,” declared Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

Meanwhile PM, together with other groups like the Philippine Airlines union PALEA and the labor center SENTRO, today held a rally at the DOLE main office to push for an “end endo” formula of regulation and prohibition of subcontracting of regular jobs. The protest today is a buildup for the big nationwide mobilization by workers on November 30 to highlight the call to stop all forms of contractualization, including outsourcing.

Magtubo added that “We know for a fact that the DOLE has not been able to enforce regularization of workers in numerous instances. To cite a few examples. One is a Japanese-owned electronics factory in the Cavite ecozone that has refused to regularize hundreds of its agency workers despite an order from the DOLE. Second is the PALEA 600 who have not been reinstated by Philippine Airlines as regular workers despite a settlement agreement that provides for it. Finally the case of 149 Pizza Hut contractual workers who were retrenched when they sought regularization but have been reinstated only as agency workers.”

“The contagion of contractualization is spreading instead of being contained. In Toledo City in Cebu province, a large mining company is laying off workers who will then be hired as contractuals in agencies to do the same work. So we ask DOLE: Show us the 25,000 new regulars!,” Magtubo averred.

He quipped that “It seems that the news of 25,000 newly regularized workers is fake similar to posts in Mocha Uson's controversial blog,” he insisted.

Magtubo also slammed Bello’s endorsement of the employers’ “win-win” formula on contractualization. “The so-called win-win formula of the employers and now the DOLE will not end endo. The ‘win-win’ scheme is a scam that will lead to the utter proliferation of outsourcing and contracting out of regular jobs in the principal employers. The Labor Secretary is turning his back on the participants to the three Labor Summits convened by the DOLE in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao who resolved to end all forms of contractualization,” insisted Magtubo.

November 24, 2015

Advisory: PALEA to picket DOLE today to demand reinstatement of regular workers

WHAT: In the picket, PALEA will challenge the DOLE on stopping endo, and demand the reinstatement of regular workers at Philippine Airlines outsourced five years ago

WHEN:  Today, September 28 (Wednesday), 10:00 a.m.

WHERE: DOLE main office, Intramuros, Manila

DETAILS: As part of the ongoing campaign against contractualization and to challenge the Labor Department on its end endo promise, the union Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) will picket the DOLE main office. The rally is timed for the fifth anniversary of the massive outsourcing that displaced more than 2,000 regular workers at Philippine Airlines and replaced them by contractual workers in service providers.

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.

September 28, 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 urge Duterte to rectify ‘endo’ injustice committed by PNoy against PALEA

The militant Partido Manggagawa (PM) is urging incoming President Rodrigo Duterte to set off his anti-‘endo’ campaign to a good start by rectifying a grave injustice committed by outgoing President BS Aquino against the Filipino workers. 

According to PM Chairman Renato Magtubo, that injustice -- a mistake known to all -- was President Aquino's cold-blooded approval of PAL’s outsourcing program in 2011. 

The program, the labor leader said, altered from regular to contractual the employment status of 2,600 PAL employees. 

Members of the Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA), for more than two years, stood firm in opposing the program by building and sustaining a massive protest camp at PAL’s In-Flight Center near the Terminal 2.  The campaign call, “Ang laban ng PALEA ay laban ng lahat,” had since then become the battle cry of organized labor against the policy of contractualization.

In September 2013, the union and the PAL management entered into a Settlement Agreement (SA) which provides for a compensation and re-employment package for some 600 members of PALEA who remained opposed to the outsourcing program.  PAL has not fully complied with the agreement particularly on PALEA 600 re-employment as regular workers.

“Mr. President, this injustice does not require three or six months to fix and rectify.  It is simply an implementation of a binding agreement between the union and the management which you were made aware of during a meeting with PALEA officers before you finally decided to run as President,” said Magtubo.

Added Magtubo: “Once justice is served to the PALEA 600, a clear direction is presumed to have been set for a serious anti-endo campaign of the new administration. We do expect a non business-as-usual approach to this issue.” 

Ending endo or the industry practice of hiring workers on contractual basis was one of the main platforms of President-elect Rody Duterte.  The policy is seen as a plague that perpetuates the problem of poverty and inequality in the country as it undermines workers’ right to decent work and life of dignity.

The labor group, however, is worried that the 8-point economic agenda of the President didn’t set out a “bagong daan” framework to indicate a new era or a new beginning.

Peace

Meanwhile, PM said it is also supportive of Duterte’s plan to open peace talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) as well as with other revolutionary forces in the country.

“Ending the people’s war will not necessarily mean the ultimate settlement of class conflicts in the country. That won’t happen in the next six years or more under capitalism and the system of elite rule.  But aiming for momentary or long-term peace based on social justice is a better agenda than prolonging the war to an indefinite conclusion,” said Magtubo.

Duterte’s peace charm with CPP is coupled with a surprising offer of four cabinet positions to its nominees for DOLE, DAR, DSWD and DENR.

23 May 2016

DOLE asked to act on PAL mass layoff

Press Release

September 18, 2015

PALEA

The Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) today asked the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to act on the mass layoff at Philippine Airlines (PAL) as the union held a picket at its Intramuros main office. More than a week ago PAL announced the retrenchment in November of 117 employees all working at domestic airports all around the country.

“We call the attention of DOLE Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz to the brewing labor dispute over the latest round of retrenchments at PAL. Sec. Baldoz called the Kentex owners immoral for their occupational health and safety negligence but it is also immoral to lay off almost all personnel at domestic airports when PAL is wallowing in profits of P6.45 billion for the first half of the year,” stated Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and vice chair of the militant Partido Manggagawa (PM).

In its stockholders meeting last August, PAL declared that it is expecting to end the year in the black. PALEA recalled that in 2011 PAL argued that it was losing money and thus it was necessary to retrench a third of its total workforce.

Rivera insisted that “DOLE cannot pretend not to see, hear and speak no evil when workers rights and livelihood are assailed with impunity. Article 277 (b) of the Labor Code empowers the Labor Secretary to resolve cases of mass layoff that results in labor disputes. Further she has the authority to assume jurisdiction (AJ) of labor disputes. In fact less than a month ago Sec. Baldoz imposed an AJ to stop workers of power plant KEPCO-Cebu from striking against union busting and refusal to bargain since it will disrupt the APEC events in Cebu. Why is it that AJ is always used to stop workers from fighting back and never to bar capitalists from attacking labor rights?”

Since last week PALEA has been holding protests at PAL’s main office at the PNB Building in Macapagal Boulevard and its various offices around the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. PALEA has announced that the mass actions are the start of a renewed campaign to oppose contractualization and outsourcing. It will continue on to PALEA’s 69^th year anniversary on September 21 and then escalate in November in time for the APEC summit.

Aside from blasting the latest layoffs, the PALEA protesters also called for the opening of collective bargaining negotiations 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.

Media Advisory: Protest today at DOLE vs. PAL layoffs

MEDIA ADVISORY

Contact Manny Gan @ 09275307230

  

WHAT: PALEA to bring to the attention of DOLE the dispute over the mass layoff of 117 PAL workers

WHEN:  Today, September 18 (Friday), 11:00 a.m.

WHERE: DOLE main office, Intramuros

DETAILS: In the second week of protests against the latest round of mass layoffs at Philippine Airlines (PAL), the Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) will hold a picket at the main office of the Department of Labor and Employment to bring to its attention the pending dispute. More than a week ago PAL announced the retrenchment in November of 117 employees all working at domestic airports all around the country.

PALEA will ask the DOLE to act on the mass layoff as it is empowered by the Labor Code to resolve cases of mass layoff that results in labor disputes.

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.

The mass actions are the start of a renewed campaign to oppose contractualization and outsourcing. It will continue on to PALEA’s 69^th year anniversary on September 21 and then escalate in November in time for the APEC summit.

PALEA protests vs. PAL layoffs enters second week

Press Release

September 14, 2015

PALEA

For the second straight week, the Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) is holding protests against the latest round of mass layoffs at Philippine Airlines (PAL). More than a week ago, PAL announced the retrenchment this November of 117 employees, all working at domestic airports all around the country.

Today PALEA is once more picketing the PAL main office at the PNB Building in Macapagal Boulevard. In last week’s protest, some one hundred PALEA members with a contingent from the militant Partido Manggagawa (PM) picketed PAL’s main office and also its offices in Nichols at the Airport Road

PALEA revealed that the mass actions are the start of a renewed campaign to oppose contractualization and outsourcing. It will continue on to PALEA’s 69^th year anniversary on September 21 and then escalate in November in time for the APEC summit.

“The new round of layoffs is another wave of contractualization. Regular unionized workers are being replaced with contractual employees who will be paid less in wages and benefits,” insisted Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and PM vice chair.

He added that “Last September 2, PAL sent a formal notice of separation due to redundancy to PALEA. But in truth, no redundancy will transpire since the positions will not be vacated; workers to be retrenched will be replaced by new employees from so-called service providers. Also in some cases, employees served by the notice of separation were immediately replaced by contractual workers.”

Aside from blasting the latest layoffs, PALEA is also calling for the opening of collective bargaining negotiations 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.

“PAL has given no clear criteria in implementing the supposed redundancy program except to announce the separation benefits. In fact, we suspect that most of the regular PAL workers to be retrenched may just be rehired as contractual employees by the service provider since they possess the skill set needed for the job. Meaning this is a contractualization scam similar to the 2011 outsourcing program that affected more than 2,000 workers.”

Further Rivera argued that the latest round of layoffs is another expression of PAL owner Lucio Tan’s “no union policy.” He called for the solidarity of the labor movement and allied groups for PALEA’s continuing fight for regular employment.

PALEA protest vs. layoff today

MEDIA ADVISORY

PALEA

September 14, 2015

  

WHAT: PALEA to protest against mass layoff of 117 PAL workers

WHEN:  Today, September 14 (Monday), 11:00 a.m.

WHERE: PAL headquarters, PNB Building, Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard

DETAILS: The Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) will hold another protest today against the latest round of mass layoffs at Philippine Airlines (PAL). More than a week ago PAL announced the retrenchment in November of 117 employees all working at domestic airports all around the country.

The picket today follows on the heels of similar protests last week. 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.

The mass actions are the start of a renewed campaign to oppose contractualization and outsourcing. It will continue on to PALEA’s 69^th year anniversary on September 21 and then escalate in November in time for the APEC summit.

PALEA slams new round of PAL layoffs

Press Release

September 11, 2015

PALEA

The union Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) slammed the planned mass layoff at Philippine Airlines (PAL). Today PALEA is holding a protest at PAL’s offices near the airport, which comes on the heels of another last Tuesday. Last week PAL announced the retrenchment in November of 117 employees all working at domestic airports all around the country.

“PAL sent a formal notice of separation due to redundancy to PALEA last September 2 to inform the union. Yet no redundancy will happen since the workers to be retrenched will be replaced by employees from so-called service providers. In some airports, employees served by the notice of separation were immediately replaced by contractual workers The new round of layoffs is another wave of contractualization, changing regular unionized workers with contractual employees using manpower agencies,” insisted Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and vice chair of the militant Partido Manggagawa (PM).

In last Tuesday’s protest, dozens of PALEA members picketed PAL offices in Nichols at the Airport Road and PNB at the Macapagal Boulevard. Aside from blasting the latest layoffs, the PALEA protesters also called for the opening of collective bargaining negotiations 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.

Today more PALEA members together with a contingent from PM will picket PAL’s main office at Macapagal Boulevard. Rivera said the protests this week are the start of a renewed campaign to oppose contractualization and outsourcing.

He added that “PAL has given no clear criteria in implementing the supposed redundancy program except to announce the separation benefits. In fact we suspect that the 117 regular PAL workers to be retrenched may just be rehired as contractual employees by the service provider since they possess the skill set needed for the job. Meaning this is a contractualization scam similar to the 2011 outsourcing program that affected more than 2,000 workers.”

Further Rivera argued that the latest round of layoffs is another expression of PAL owner Lucio Tan’s “no union policy.” He called for the solidarity of the labor movement and allied groups for PALEA’s continuing fight for regular employment.

“Ang laban ng PALEA ay laban ng lahat. We call on our brothers and sisters in the trade union movement and supporters in the Catholic Church, student groups and NGO’s to close ranks for the struggle for labor rights,” Rivera stated.

Militants win PALEA elections anew

Press Release

February 28, 2015

Militants again won the elections for leadership of the Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA), the union for ground crew of the national flag carrier. Since 2010, PALEA has been locked in a bitter dispute with Philippine Airlines (PAL) over outsourcing and contractualization. After more than two years in the picketlines, PALEA settled the dispute with PAL in November 2013.

A slate led by Gerry Rivera, incumbent PALEA president and vice chair of Partido Manggagawa (PM), won all the top executive positions and most of the union board officers in elections held over several days this week at PAL offices nationwide. They won on a platform of pushing for negotiations for a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) and the full implementation of the settlement agreement.

After handily winning the PALEA elections, the Rivera-led leadership is extending the hand of cooperation to all groups in the union. “We appeal to all PALEA members, including candidates for the elections, to move forward and unite for our common interests as PAL employees. Its time to leave partisan politics behind and respect the will of the majority as the union faces the challenge of securing a pay hike, other benefits and job security,” Rivera stated.

He also called on management to work with PALEA in attaining the industrial peace needed in PAL’s corporate plans. “PALEA is more than willing to ensure industrial peace based on respect for labor rights and decent work, as we have formally communicated to PAL President and COO Jaime Bautista,” Rivera explained.

After the buyback by the Lucio Tan group of PAL, PALEA wrote the new management in December last year about reopening talks for a CBA and realizing the reinstatement provision of the settlement agreement.

Rivera elaborated that “Wages for PAL employees have not been increased over the past 17 years except for a few times because there have been no new bargaining negotiations since the controversial 1998 CBA suspension. After we took leadership of PALEA in 2010 we immediately proposed a new CBA but talks got stalled over PAL’s insistence that it should cover only employees that will not be outsourced. But with the resolution of the outsourcing dispute, it is high time to put the CBA negotiations back on the agenda, together with the reinstatement of the PALEA 600.”

PALEA 600 refers to the approximate number of members who opposed the outsourcing plan in 2011 and were covered by the settlement agreement in 2013. Some 2,400 PAL employees were laid off in September 2011 as a result of outsourcing but many were forced to take the separation offer over the course of the protracted dispute.