DOLE asked to recall order extending floating status

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is being asked by the labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) to recall the order extending the floating status of workers to one year. The group called on the DOLE to re-submit the proposal to the deliberation of the National Tripartite Industrial Peace Council (NTIPC) where labor, employers and government are represented.

 

“We appeal to Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello to recall DO 215. DOLE orders should be subject to tripartite agreement and not be unilateral decisions of government,” asserted Renato Magtubo, PM national chair.

 

He wondered why the DOLE pushed through with extending the floating status of workers when labor groups were firm in their opposition to the proposal when it was tabled in an NTIPC meeting.

 

PM countered the position of Labor Undersecretary Benjo Benavidez that extending the floating status is a measure to protect workers. “DO 215 is pro-employer as it allows them to evade payment of separation benefits to workers who are now more than six months on forced leave,” insisted Magtubo.

 

According to PM, thousands of workers have already filed complaints for constructive dismissal because their employers have not reinstated them since the lockdown started in March. “Who will benefit from the dismissal of these cases because of DO 215? Thus the DOLE is being disingenuous when it says that DO 215 is protective of workers,” Magtubo stated.

 

He also answered DOLE’s claim that the Labor Code is silent on the floating status of workers: “Article 310 provides that workers are deemed not terminated—meaning employees are put on forced leave or floating status—when the operations of a company are suspended, which is the scenario at present. But Article 301 explicitly mandates that such suspension cannot exceed six months—and for good reason more than half a year is too long for workers to suffer on no work, no pay.”

 

He recalled that the DOLE earlier floated the deferment of the 13^th month pay but backtracked because of outrage over the proposal. PM is calling on workers to similarly express opposition to DO 215.

 

Magtubo maintained that “DO 215 is another example of DOLE’s social distancing from workers in the time of covid. Earlier DOLE released a series of orders and advisories such as DO 213 that suspended complaints and inspections and LA 17 that allowed diminution of wages and benefits. All these disadvantaged workers impacted by the lockdown and opened them to abuse by employers. Labor’s challenge finally led to DO 213’s repeal by DO 214 which permitted the operation of the dispute resolution mechanisms for workers.” 

October 30, 2020

PAL outsourcing plan cannot fly—PALEA

Press Release

September 15, 2011

PALEA

On the eve of the extended deadline for terminated employees of Philippine Airlines (PAL) to sign up for the service providers, the Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) claimed that the outsourcing plan is facing difficulties. “PAL’s outsourcing plan cannot fly or even takeoff because of the unity and defiance of PALEA members,” asserted Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and vice chair of Partido ng Manggagawa (PM).

Rivera declared that the overwhelming majority of the 2,600 employees who will be affected by the mass layoff and outsourcing plan have not signed the termination notices sent to them and even fewer have signed up to work for the three service providers. “Of the few employees who availed of the separation package, a significant number have already made affidavits of retraction alleging that they only accepted the termination under duress and with deceit,” he revealed.

Tomorrow PALEA is holding a big protest rally to serve as a final warning to PAL against enforcing a lockout on the workers. “The one week extension of the original September 9 deadline for terminated workers to apply to the service providers is proof of management’s failure to coerce and cajole PALEA members into accepting the mass layoff. Still PAL had not retreated from its announcement that September 30 is the last day of work for laid off workers,” Rivera explained.

PALEA also denounced the termination of an additional 55 customer service agents (CSA’s) who were hired in batches last June and July. “These CSA’s were hired on a six-month contract but PAL early this week arbitrarily pre-terminated their employment for no reason at all and were told that October 15 is their last day of work. The fate of these CSA’s is a preview of the life of workers in the service providers. Their working conditions will be at the whim of the company and they can be fired at will. They will have no voice in the workplace and no union to protect them,” Rivera elaborated.

PALEA continues to slam the contractual working conditions at the service providers. Rivera gave a concrete example of the downgrading of pay and status for PAL employees, “A senior PAL reservation agent with five years of work experience receives PhP 22,400 in salaries and allowances but is being offered by service provider SPI Global a wage of only PhP 10,000. This is not even the minimum salary and clearly a starvation wage for a family breadwinner.”

More than a thousand PAL employees are expected to attend the big protest tomorrow with hundreds more participants coming from labor and church groups supporting PALEA’s cause. The protesters will assemble by 2:30 p.m. at PAL Nichols Gate 2 then march to the Our Lady of the Airways Parish at the corner of MIA and Sucat Roads for a program that will last until 8:00 p.m.

PM to Credit Suisse: Scrap anti-labor loan agreement with PAL

PRESS RELEASE

09 September 2011

The militant labor group Partido ng Manggagawa (Labor Party-Philippines) today called on Credit Suisse, a leading global financial services company, to scrap its recently concluded debt deal with Philippine Airlines (PAL) which would finance the implementation of the flag carrier’s highly denounced outsourcing plan.

The call was made in reaction to reports that Credit Suisse has granted PAL a US$50 million loan to partly finance the airline’s mass layoff and labor contractualization plan.   PAL chief finance officer Jose Gabriel Olives, disclosed on Thursday that the money will be used to fund the separation pay for some 2,600 PAL employees who will be laid off as a consequence of outsourcing.

According to Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) chair Renato Magtubo, Credit Suisse’s funding of Lucio Tan’s outsourcing plan is tantamount to promoting a patently anti-labor social policy and even runs counter to the company’s own employment and social responsibility policies.

“It’s like using Swiss money to fund Hitler’s holocaust campaign in Europe,” said Magtubo who described labor contractualization as a modern form of  ‘social segregation policy’ by separating ‘core’ from  ‘non-core’ workers the ultimate aim of which is to annihilate  established international labor and human rights principles -- specifically the equal opportunity and non-discrimination principles.

The labor group furthered that Credit Suisse’s involvement in the PAL labor dispute by way of financing the outsourcing plan can be interpreted as a direct interference by a foreign creditor to our internal affairs.

“More deplorable, however, is the Credit Suisse’s funding of a patently anti-labor social policy as the PAL outsourcing plan is the biggest socially and legally contested labor issue in the Philippines today,” argued Magtubo, reiterating the labor sector’s collective position that PAL’s outsourcing plan was a gross violation of workers’ constitutionally and internationally guaranteed rights to security of tenure, freedom of association and collective bargaining.

The group likewise advised Credit Suisse of the fact that based on the labor department’s own certification, the three service providers (Sky Kitchen, Sky Logistics, and SPI Global Holdings) contracted out by PAL for the outsourcing plan are NOT registered contractors/subcontractors as required under Department Order No. 18, series of 2002, and thus are presumed to be engaged in illegal labor-only-contracting.

Magtubo pointed out further that in funding Lucio Tan’s outsourcing plan, Credit Suisse has gone as far as violating one of its core corporate values which proclaims adherence to the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

On October 2008, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of UDHR, Credit Suisse CEO Brady W. Dougan also signed the UN Global Compact CEO Statement on Human Rights which call on governments to implement fully their human rights obligations as companies reiterate their own commitment to respect and support human rights within their sphere of influence. 

The labor group also went on to check the Credit Suisse website (https://www.credit-suisse.com) and found the company’s own policy as an employer which states that, "Our success is driven by our most important asset, our people. In order to attract the most talented employees, we strive to offer them an environment in which they can thrive. This includes training and development programs, internal mobility opportunities and excellent employee benefits."

Likewise under its Responsibility to Society section, it is declared that, "At Credit Suisse, our commitment to society and social issues has a long tradition. Together with partner organizations, we strive to improve living standards and to provide development opportunities for disadvantaged people in communities around the world."

“These are big words.  But Credit Suisse is either true to its tradition and declared social commitments, or it has mastered the art of doublespeak just like the PAL and other anti-labor companies,” said Magtubo, stressing the point that the PAL’s contractualization plan is the reverse of an environment where workers can thrive and improve their living standards.