Press Release
September 24, 2009
The Partido ng Manggagawa formally submitted to the ILO High Level Mission (HLM) a case file on a Cebu export zone union detailing incidents that violate Convention 87 on the right to self-organization. Judy Ann Miranda, Partido ng Manggagawa secretary general, stated that “Even as the ILO HLM conducts its investigation on the government’s implementation and enforcement of Convention 87, in the Mactan Economic Zone (MEZ), a union is fighting for its life.”
The laid off workers of Alta Mode, a garments export firm in MEZ II that subcontracts for Abercrombie & Fitch among other multinational corporations, lifted today their picketline outside the company gates since their employer has agreed to a meeting tomorrow. Renante Pelino, president of Alta Mode Workers Union (AMWU), declared that “We end our campout in good faith to remove any obstacle to a dialogue with top management on our demands for recognition of the union, work rotation, financial assistance to laid off workers and union access to the factory during the temporary shutdown.”
Pelino said that “We call the attention of the ILO mission to the de facto ‘no union, no strike’ policy in the export zones. Yesterday it took hours of haggling just to allow food and water to be brought to hungry and thirsty workers in the campout. Criminals get better treatment in jails compared to protesting workers inside the export zones.”
At 2:00 pm this afternoon, around 100 AMWU members marched some 400 meters from the Alta Mode factory to the MEZ II main gate and were met by dozens of their families, other union members, and supporters from the Partido ng Manggagawa and other unions. The AMWU members chanted “Makibaka, Wag Matakot” as export zone workers watched the march proceed.
In a meeting last night with representatives of the National Conciliation and Mediation Board, Philippine Export Zone Authority and Aboitiz Land which owns MEZ II, AMWU agreed to lift the picketline in return for a dialogue with management. Since the declaring a temporary shutdown last September 11, Alta Mode has refused to negotiate with AMWU.
Among the recommendations forwarded in the AMWU case file are the following:
1. For the Philippine Export Zone Authority (PEZA) to form tripartite councils within all export zones with the mandate to discuss workers grievances and employers concerns within the export zone, and recommend actions to resolve the issues.
2. For the PEZA to setup billboards at every single gate of export zones with the message that (a) it is state policy to guarantee labor rights, (b) the law encourages trade unionism and collective bargaining, and (c) management interference in the right to organize is unfair labor practice.
3. For employers within the export zone to put up notices at company gates that it is company policy to the respect labor laws and specifically that it will not interfere in the workers exercise of freedom to organize.
4. For the PEZA to draft, in consultation with workers, an education seminar on labor rights, standards and welfare based on provisions of the labor code for all export zones workers, including managerial and supervisory employees, to be attended within their first six months of their employment.
5. For the Executive to draft a course on labor rights, standards and welfare to be included in the mandatory curriculum for secondary and tertiary education.
6. For the PEZA and employers to allow representatives of labor organizations, specifically union organizers, access to the export zones and to company premises for the purpose of union organizing and other union activities, including workers concerted actions.
7. For the PEZA to allow representatives of media access to the export zones for the purpose of reporting on workers’ concerted activities, including strikes, conducted inside the zone.
8. For the PEZA to guarantee the exercise of the workers right to engage in concerted activities, including strikes without harassment or intimidation by PEZA police, company guards or any agent of state authorities.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
PAL union brings case vs. contractualization and labor rights violation to ILO
PRESS RELEASE
24 September 2009
Rampant violation of labor rights in the country is most probably the cause why the International Labor Organization’s (ILO) High Level Mission to the Philippines is swamped by many complaints that go beyond the mission’s specific mandate of looking into the eight particular cases brought before the body in 2007.
Once such additional complaint is from Philippine Airline employees who face a second wave of mass retrenchment due to the management’s planned spin-off of its ground handling operations and other functions beginning November 15, 2009.
Philippine Airlines Employees Association of the Philippines (PALEA) president, Gerry Rivera, said the ILO forum yesterday was very memorable for them since it was also on September 23, 1998 that PAL ceased its operations and sent termination notices to its employees. This was after employees rejected Lucio Tan’s proposal to offer stocks options to its employees and three seats in the Board of Directors, on the condition that all the existing Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs) with its employees would be suspended for 10 years.
Upon intervention from Malacanang, however, employees were forced to accept the CBA suspension. Rivera, who is also the Vice President of Partido ng Manggagawa (PM), said “the continuing saga of contractualization and labor rights violation all began from here.”
Another round of retrenchment in the offing
The PALEA leader disclosed that on September 9, 2009, Philippine Airlines President & Chief Operating Officer, Jaime J. Bautista, in a memorandum, informed the Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) of the management’s plan to outsource/spin-off some operational units. The memorandum is but a formalization of the company’s earlier verbal notices to the Union.
Citing heavy losses and to prevent further bleeding, PAL is planning to outsource/spin-off the Catering, Passenger Handling, Ramp Handling and Cargo Handling operations. The management is also studying the possibility of doing the same to other functions such as the Information Technology, Revenue Accounting, Reservations and Call Centers, Medical and other Human Resources Operations.
“Once implemented, this second wave of outsourcing/spin-off will affect the job security of some 2,000 – 4,000 PAL employees currently assigned in those departments. And expected to be done under the same scheme that the management had employed in 2001, the remaining 7,000 PAL employees are therefore in for another round of mass retrenchment,” said Rivera.
Worse, adds Rivera, the plan may cast the proverbial last nail on the coffin for the PAL union which, for the last ten years, has been weakened and undermined by previous spin-offs and outsourcing, notwithstanding the effects of the state-sanctioned 10-Year CBA moratorium implemented since 1998.
10-Year CBA Moratorium 1998
The 10-Year suspension of PAL-PALEA CBA in 1998 was first in Philippine history, and perhaps one of the most blatant violations of ILO Conventions in the country on the right to organize and collectively bargain.
The management, with full blessings from the government, used the 1997 Asian financial crisis and the crippling pilot strike in 1998 against union-busting as pretext to force the issue of a moratorium despite strong opposition from PAL employees and the Philippine labor movement as a whole.
“Unfortunately, the Supreme Court came out with a surprisingly controversial decision affirming the validity of the CBA suspension,” Rivera said.
The decision created the jurisprudence that a CBA contract can be suspended even beyond its mandated lifetime. The decision also put PAL workers in limbo on how to exercise their Constitutionally-mandated right to organize, collectively bargain, and to strike.
As a consequence, internal conflict arose in the union afterwards as the management refused to recognize the new set of officers that won the union elections in April 2002, in clear violation of Conventions 87 and 98. The case remains pending before the Supreme Court.
On June 1998, PAL workers were rendered defenseless against the first wave of retrenchment which affected some 5,000 employees out of the approximately 14,000 employees before the 1998 strike. Included from those retrenched were some 1,400 flight attendants who were members of the Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines (FASAP), who, just recently won a Supreme Court decision against illegal dismissal.
Spin-off 2001
On 2001, the Maintenance and Engineering Department was spun-off to a joint venture of Lufthansa Technik Philippines and MacroAsia Airport Services where PAL owner Lucio Tan Sr. also holds interests. MacroAsia’s Chairman of the Board is Lucio Tan, Jr., its President and CEO is Joseph Chua, the son-in law, while PAL President Jaime Bautista is the Treasurer. As a result, former PAL employees and PALEA members were terminated from PAL and rehired as contractual employees for Lufthansa Technik, and MacroAsia, of course, without the rights and benefits they previously enjoyed as PAL and unionized employees.
“The move was a classic example of how the PAL management has managed to implement contractualization scheme in the airline business effectively undercutting labor rights and undermining the Union existence,” lamented Rivera.
Spin-off 2009
PAL employees fear that the same spin-off and outsourcing scheme is going to happen now. This time, however, there is only a world recession to blame but no crippling strike the management can condemn. “Yet, there is a contractualization scheme to impose to once again to make labor assume the burden of flawed management decisions since the time PAL was privatized in the early 90s,” said Rivera.
In a Labor Management Council Meeting held last September 8, 2009, the PAL President & COO told the Union that the management has already invited prospective bidders for those departments targeted for spin-off. Again, as expected, one interested bidder is Lucio Tan’s MacroAsia Airport Services.
“It seems 10 years of labor sacrifice were not yet enough. Again, to save PAL from its current financial mess, the management is asking PAL employees to bleed some more,” explained Rivera.
Today, the PAL union has put forward the following recommendations as the ILO High level mission is set to meet with concerned government bodies and employers’ representatives.
1. For the Malacanang to certify as priority bill the passage of the proposed Security of Tenure bill and for Congress to pass the same in order to align the Labor Code to the letter and spirit of Convention 87 and 98. The security of tenure bill seeks to amend the pertinent provisions of the Labor Code to strictly regulate the practice of labor contracting and plug the loopholes in the law.
2. For the Labor Department to review Department Order No 18 specifying allowable and illegal forms of labor contracting. The Department Order has significantly liberalized the scope of legal contracting, thus giving legal blanket to outsourcing such as the PAL spinoff even if it weakens unions.
3. For the PAL management to suspend the planned outsourcing/spin-off.
4. For the Supreme Court to decide with dispatch on GR 155097 on the local election dispute within PALEA considering the inordinately long time of 7 years.
5. For the Congress and the Supreme Court to consider forming a special court or special division to handle purely labor cases to expedite the disposition of mounting cases at the NLRC, Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court.
24 September 2009
Rampant violation of labor rights in the country is most probably the cause why the International Labor Organization’s (ILO) High Level Mission to the Philippines is swamped by many complaints that go beyond the mission’s specific mandate of looking into the eight particular cases brought before the body in 2007.
Once such additional complaint is from Philippine Airline employees who face a second wave of mass retrenchment due to the management’s planned spin-off of its ground handling operations and other functions beginning November 15, 2009.
Philippine Airlines Employees Association of the Philippines (PALEA) president, Gerry Rivera, said the ILO forum yesterday was very memorable for them since it was also on September 23, 1998 that PAL ceased its operations and sent termination notices to its employees. This was after employees rejected Lucio Tan’s proposal to offer stocks options to its employees and three seats in the Board of Directors, on the condition that all the existing Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs) with its employees would be suspended for 10 years.
Upon intervention from Malacanang, however, employees were forced to accept the CBA suspension. Rivera, who is also the Vice President of Partido ng Manggagawa (PM), said “the continuing saga of contractualization and labor rights violation all began from here.”
Another round of retrenchment in the offing
The PALEA leader disclosed that on September 9, 2009, Philippine Airlines President & Chief Operating Officer, Jaime J. Bautista, in a memorandum, informed the Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) of the management’s plan to outsource/spin-off some operational units. The memorandum is but a formalization of the company’s earlier verbal notices to the Union.
Citing heavy losses and to prevent further bleeding, PAL is planning to outsource/spin-off the Catering, Passenger Handling, Ramp Handling and Cargo Handling operations. The management is also studying the possibility of doing the same to other functions such as the Information Technology, Revenue Accounting, Reservations and Call Centers, Medical and other Human Resources Operations.
“Once implemented, this second wave of outsourcing/spin-off will affect the job security of some 2,000 – 4,000 PAL employees currently assigned in those departments. And expected to be done under the same scheme that the management had employed in 2001, the remaining 7,000 PAL employees are therefore in for another round of mass retrenchment,” said Rivera.
Worse, adds Rivera, the plan may cast the proverbial last nail on the coffin for the PAL union which, for the last ten years, has been weakened and undermined by previous spin-offs and outsourcing, notwithstanding the effects of the state-sanctioned 10-Year CBA moratorium implemented since 1998.
10-Year CBA Moratorium 1998
The 10-Year suspension of PAL-PALEA CBA in 1998 was first in Philippine history, and perhaps one of the most blatant violations of ILO Conventions in the country on the right to organize and collectively bargain.
The management, with full blessings from the government, used the 1997 Asian financial crisis and the crippling pilot strike in 1998 against union-busting as pretext to force the issue of a moratorium despite strong opposition from PAL employees and the Philippine labor movement as a whole.
“Unfortunately, the Supreme Court came out with a surprisingly controversial decision affirming the validity of the CBA suspension,” Rivera said.
The decision created the jurisprudence that a CBA contract can be suspended even beyond its mandated lifetime. The decision also put PAL workers in limbo on how to exercise their Constitutionally-mandated right to organize, collectively bargain, and to strike.
As a consequence, internal conflict arose in the union afterwards as the management refused to recognize the new set of officers that won the union elections in April 2002, in clear violation of Conventions 87 and 98. The case remains pending before the Supreme Court.
On June 1998, PAL workers were rendered defenseless against the first wave of retrenchment which affected some 5,000 employees out of the approximately 14,000 employees before the 1998 strike. Included from those retrenched were some 1,400 flight attendants who were members of the Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines (FASAP), who, just recently won a Supreme Court decision against illegal dismissal.
Spin-off 2001
On 2001, the Maintenance and Engineering Department was spun-off to a joint venture of Lufthansa Technik Philippines and MacroAsia Airport Services where PAL owner Lucio Tan Sr. also holds interests. MacroAsia’s Chairman of the Board is Lucio Tan, Jr., its President and CEO is Joseph Chua, the son-in law, while PAL President Jaime Bautista is the Treasurer. As a result, former PAL employees and PALEA members were terminated from PAL and rehired as contractual employees for Lufthansa Technik, and MacroAsia, of course, without the rights and benefits they previously enjoyed as PAL and unionized employees.
“The move was a classic example of how the PAL management has managed to implement contractualization scheme in the airline business effectively undercutting labor rights and undermining the Union existence,” lamented Rivera.
Spin-off 2009
PAL employees fear that the same spin-off and outsourcing scheme is going to happen now. This time, however, there is only a world recession to blame but no crippling strike the management can condemn. “Yet, there is a contractualization scheme to impose to once again to make labor assume the burden of flawed management decisions since the time PAL was privatized in the early 90s,” said Rivera.
In a Labor Management Council Meeting held last September 8, 2009, the PAL President & COO told the Union that the management has already invited prospective bidders for those departments targeted for spin-off. Again, as expected, one interested bidder is Lucio Tan’s MacroAsia Airport Services.
“It seems 10 years of labor sacrifice were not yet enough. Again, to save PAL from its current financial mess, the management is asking PAL employees to bleed some more,” explained Rivera.
Today, the PAL union has put forward the following recommendations as the ILO High level mission is set to meet with concerned government bodies and employers’ representatives.
1. For the Malacanang to certify as priority bill the passage of the proposed Security of Tenure bill and for Congress to pass the same in order to align the Labor Code to the letter and spirit of Convention 87 and 98. The security of tenure bill seeks to amend the pertinent provisions of the Labor Code to strictly regulate the practice of labor contracting and plug the loopholes in the law.
2. For the Labor Department to review Department Order No 18 specifying allowable and illegal forms of labor contracting. The Department Order has significantly liberalized the scope of legal contracting, thus giving legal blanket to outsourcing such as the PAL spinoff even if it weakens unions.
3. For the PAL management to suspend the planned outsourcing/spin-off.
4. For the Supreme Court to decide with dispatch on GR 155097 on the local election dispute within PALEA considering the inordinately long time of 7 years.
5. For the Congress and the Supreme Court to consider forming a special court or special division to handle purely labor cases to expedite the disposition of mounting cases at the NLRC, Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Case of laid off garments workers in Cebu presented to ILO mission
Press Release
September 23, 2009
In a meeting today with the International Labor Organization High Level Mission (ILO HLM) at the RCBC Plaza in Makati, Renato Magtubo, chairperson of the Partido ng Manggagawa, presented the case of laid off garments workers in Cebu as a “graphic example of violation of Convention 87 on the freedom of self-organization.”
The laid off workers were from Alta Mode, a garments export firm that subcontracts for Abercrombie & Fitch and Adidas among other multinational corporations. In a press conference today in Mactan City, members of the Alta Mode Workers Union (AMWU) called on the ILO HLM to investigate the “unwritten no union, no strike policy” in export zones.
According to Renante Pelino, AMWU president, “Our experience is just one among many similar cases of employer interference with government connivance in the workers exercise of the freedom of self-organization. No single union represents the tens of thousands of workers in the Mactan Economic Zone (MEZ). In the 30 years of MEZ, no union has been able to survive and gain status as bargaining representative of workers.”
Yesterday AMWU members barged into the MEZ compound and started a campout at the gates of the Alta Mode factory as a form of protest and to guard against any attempt at runaway shop. They are now on their second day of a “Campout for Union Rights.”
Magtubo cited the following as Convention 87 issues regarding Alta Mode:
1. Two days before the certification election last September 7, a meeting was held of Alta Mode workers under the guise of an assembly of cooperative members. The meeting’s agenda was not cooperative matters but the certification elections and the need to defeat the AMWU in the vote.
2. On the day of the certification election, all the union members were put on forced leave. Article 248 (e) of the Labor Code states that it is unfair labor practice to discriminate in regard to wages, hours of work, and other terms and conditions of employment in order to encourage or discourage membership in any labor organization.
3. AMWU members were the first batch of workers to vote in the certification election but since they were on forced leave they were not allowed into the production area. Supervisors and managers were free to make a last-minute campaign among the workers since no union members were in the shop floor.
4. AMWU won 107 votes, “no union” got 88 votes but the certification election remains unresolved since 27 challenged ballots are not yet counted. These ballots were cast by supervisory employees, line leaders and contractual workers who AMWU alleges are not part of the bargaining unit.
5. Four days after the certification elections, Alta Mode went on a six-month temporary shutdown. AMWU filed a notice of strike on the basis of union busting and members unanimously voted to go on strike. But due to the restrictions of the Labor Code, AMWU could not immediately go on strike despite union busting by the employer. Further, if AMWU did go on strike, workers cannot setup a picket at the factory gates since they will not be allowed inside the MEZ compound since there are temporarily out of work.
September 23, 2009
In a meeting today with the International Labor Organization High Level Mission (ILO HLM) at the RCBC Plaza in Makati, Renato Magtubo, chairperson of the Partido ng Manggagawa, presented the case of laid off garments workers in Cebu as a “graphic example of violation of Convention 87 on the freedom of self-organization.”
The laid off workers were from Alta Mode, a garments export firm that subcontracts for Abercrombie & Fitch and Adidas among other multinational corporations. In a press conference today in Mactan City, members of the Alta Mode Workers Union (AMWU) called on the ILO HLM to investigate the “unwritten no union, no strike policy” in export zones.
According to Renante Pelino, AMWU president, “Our experience is just one among many similar cases of employer interference with government connivance in the workers exercise of the freedom of self-organization. No single union represents the tens of thousands of workers in the Mactan Economic Zone (MEZ). In the 30 years of MEZ, no union has been able to survive and gain status as bargaining representative of workers.”
Yesterday AMWU members barged into the MEZ compound and started a campout at the gates of the Alta Mode factory as a form of protest and to guard against any attempt at runaway shop. They are now on their second day of a “Campout for Union Rights.”
Magtubo cited the following as Convention 87 issues regarding Alta Mode:
1. Two days before the certification election last September 7, a meeting was held of Alta Mode workers under the guise of an assembly of cooperative members. The meeting’s agenda was not cooperative matters but the certification elections and the need to defeat the AMWU in the vote.
2. On the day of the certification election, all the union members were put on forced leave. Article 248 (e) of the Labor Code states that it is unfair labor practice to discriminate in regard to wages, hours of work, and other terms and conditions of employment in order to encourage or discourage membership in any labor organization.
3. AMWU members were the first batch of workers to vote in the certification election but since they were on forced leave they were not allowed into the production area. Supervisors and managers were free to make a last-minute campaign among the workers since no union members were in the shop floor.
4. AMWU won 107 votes, “no union” got 88 votes but the certification election remains unresolved since 27 challenged ballots are not yet counted. These ballots were cast by supervisory employees, line leaders and contractual workers who AMWU alleges are not part of the bargaining unit.
5. Four days after the certification elections, Alta Mode went on a six-month temporary shutdown. AMWU filed a notice of strike on the basis of union busting and members unanimously voted to go on strike. But due to the restrictions of the Labor Code, AMWU could not immediately go on strike despite union busting by the employer. Further, if AMWU did go on strike, workers cannot setup a picket at the factory gates since they will not be allowed inside the MEZ compound since there are temporarily out of work.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Laid off garments workers barge into Cebu export zone, discover possible runaway shop
Press Release
September 22, 2009
Some 100 workers of a garments factory that went on a temporary shutdown more than a week ago barged into the compound of the Mactan Economic Zone (MEZ) around 7:30 am today and setup a picket at the gates of their company. The protesting workers of Alta Mode, which exports clothes under world-famous brands such as Abercrombie & Fitch and Hollister, discovered a truck within the factory premises that is being filled up by materials and they suspect it might be an attempt at a runaway shop.
Renante Pelino, president of the Alta Mode Workers Union (AMWU), declared that “The truck is from a scrap dealer but it is possible they might spirit out machines in the guise of scrap materials. We warn our employer and the dealer that they will be liable for unfair labor practice if they attempt to transfer machines for a runway shop. We will not let that truck leave with machines and materials on board.”
Officials of the Aboitiz Land which leases the MEZ II compound to the Philippine Economic Zone have met the workers and asked them to leave pending resolution of the dispute. The workers however refused and vowed to keep guard at the Alta Mode factory gate and not leave without an agreement on their demands. The workers brought with them food, water and supplies for an indefinite campout.
AMWU is demanding that management recognize the union, honor the memorandum of agreement (MOA) forged last September 8 providing for work rotation and financial assistance for workers who will be put on forced leave, and finally for access by two union officers to the factory during the duration of the six-month temporary shutdown.
The Alta Mode factory has been rocked by labor unrest this year with workers complaining of inhuman working conditions such as excessive production quota, illegal forced leave and unfair schemes for undertime work. The workers organized a union but on the day of the certifications elections last September 7, management put all union members on forced leave. Still AMWU got 107 votes compared to 88 “no union” ballots cast but the certification elections remain unresolved since 27 challenged ballots remain uncounted.
Immediately after the elections, AMWU went into a 24-hour sitdown protest that ended with a MOA to put half of the union members back to work. However management reneged on the MOA by declaring a six-month temporary shutdown starting September 11. The union has a filed notice of strike and members have unanimously voted to go on strike.
Alta Mode has sister garments companies called Frankhaus International Corp. and MK Corp. operating in Taytay, Rizal. AMWU suspects that the temporary shutdown is a ruse to shift work to the sister companies and bust the union in Cebu.
September 22, 2009
Some 100 workers of a garments factory that went on a temporary shutdown more than a week ago barged into the compound of the Mactan Economic Zone (MEZ) around 7:30 am today and setup a picket at the gates of their company. The protesting workers of Alta Mode, which exports clothes under world-famous brands such as Abercrombie & Fitch and Hollister, discovered a truck within the factory premises that is being filled up by materials and they suspect it might be an attempt at a runaway shop.
Renante Pelino, president of the Alta Mode Workers Union (AMWU), declared that “The truck is from a scrap dealer but it is possible they might spirit out machines in the guise of scrap materials. We warn our employer and the dealer that they will be liable for unfair labor practice if they attempt to transfer machines for a runway shop. We will not let that truck leave with machines and materials on board.”
Officials of the Aboitiz Land which leases the MEZ II compound to the Philippine Economic Zone have met the workers and asked them to leave pending resolution of the dispute. The workers however refused and vowed to keep guard at the Alta Mode factory gate and not leave without an agreement on their demands. The workers brought with them food, water and supplies for an indefinite campout.
AMWU is demanding that management recognize the union, honor the memorandum of agreement (MOA) forged last September 8 providing for work rotation and financial assistance for workers who will be put on forced leave, and finally for access by two union officers to the factory during the duration of the six-month temporary shutdown.
The Alta Mode factory has been rocked by labor unrest this year with workers complaining of inhuman working conditions such as excessive production quota, illegal forced leave and unfair schemes for undertime work. The workers organized a union but on the day of the certifications elections last September 7, management put all union members on forced leave. Still AMWU got 107 votes compared to 88 “no union” ballots cast but the certification elections remain unresolved since 27 challenged ballots remain uncounted.
Immediately after the elections, AMWU went into a 24-hour sitdown protest that ended with a MOA to put half of the union members back to work. However management reneged on the MOA by declaring a six-month temporary shutdown starting September 11. The union has a filed notice of strike and members have unanimously voted to go on strike.
Alta Mode has sister garments companies called Frankhaus International Corp. and MK Corp. operating in Taytay, Rizal. AMWU suspects that the temporary shutdown is a ruse to shift work to the sister companies and bust the union in Cebu.
PAL employees hold motorcade vs. spinoff, call attention of ILO
Press Release
September 22, 2009
PAL Employees Association
Philippines Airlines (PAL) employees held a motorcade today in a protest against the spinoff to be implemented on November 15. An estimated 2,000 employees, about half of the total PAL workforce, will be retrenched due to the spinoff of the catering, passenger handling, ramp handling and cargo handling operations.
The “Motorcade Kontra Spinoff” of some 40 cars and motorcycles started assembling at 10:30 am in the Coastal Mall in the intersection Coastal Road and Airport Road. By noon the motorcade then proceeded along the Diosdado Macapagal Ave. in Pasay City to the PAL Center located at the PNB Compound. It then moved on to Nichols airport terminal and finally ended at the PAL In Flight Center (IFC) along Airport Road in Paranaque.
Gerry Rivera, president of the PAL Employees Association (PALEA), said that “Spinoff aims to outsource work to companies also owned by Lucio Tan where workers will be non-union and thus receive cheaper wages, fewer benefits and have no security of tenure. Regular workers will be retired and then rehired as contractuals. This has happened before when work was spun off to Lufthansa Technik and Macro Asia, in which Lucio Tan both had major interests. Employees retrenched from PAL because of the spinoff were employed by Macro Asia and Lufthansa Technik on new contracts.”
Last week a Rivera and the PALEA led a noise barrage at the PAL IFC to jumpstart the campaign against the spinoff. Rivera also revealed that they have organized a signature campaign versus the spinoff among PAL employees. He insisted that “Spinoff is not a solution to company losses but a scheme to contractualize labor and raise more profit not from better efficiency of work but from greater exploitation of workers.”
Meanwhile Rivera appealed to the International Labor Organization High Level Mission (ILO HLM) to investigate the case of PAL since management’s suspension of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) and spinoff of operations has weakened one of the erstwhile strongest unions in the country. The ILO HLM is tasked to hear complaints of government’s violations of Convention 87 on the freedom to unionize and Convention 98 on right of collective bargaining.
According to Rivera, in 1998 PAL with the connivance of a government formed Inter-Agency Task Force pressured the PALEA into suspending the CBA for 10 years. Rivera, then PALEA vice-president, questioned the CBA suspension on grounds that the right to self-organization and collective bargaining, being founded on public policy, cannot be waived. But the Supreme Court in a precedent-setting decision affirmed the 10-year CBA suspension despite clear provisions of the labor code that 5 years is the maximum statutory life of a CBA and 5 years is the maximum period for a sole and exclusive bargaining agent after which its representation status can be contested by another union.
Rivera is also calling the attention of the ILO HLM on the results of the elections for union officers of PALEA that has remained in limbo for 7 years since 2002. The case has remained unresolved by the Supreme Court effectively paralyzing the operations of the union and giving management an alibi to deny representation status to PALEA.
September 22, 2009
PAL Employees Association
Philippines Airlines (PAL) employees held a motorcade today in a protest against the spinoff to be implemented on November 15. An estimated 2,000 employees, about half of the total PAL workforce, will be retrenched due to the spinoff of the catering, passenger handling, ramp handling and cargo handling operations.
The “Motorcade Kontra Spinoff” of some 40 cars and motorcycles started assembling at 10:30 am in the Coastal Mall in the intersection Coastal Road and Airport Road. By noon the motorcade then proceeded along the Diosdado Macapagal Ave. in Pasay City to the PAL Center located at the PNB Compound. It then moved on to Nichols airport terminal and finally ended at the PAL In Flight Center (IFC) along Airport Road in Paranaque.
Gerry Rivera, president of the PAL Employees Association (PALEA), said that “Spinoff aims to outsource work to companies also owned by Lucio Tan where workers will be non-union and thus receive cheaper wages, fewer benefits and have no security of tenure. Regular workers will be retired and then rehired as contractuals. This has happened before when work was spun off to Lufthansa Technik and Macro Asia, in which Lucio Tan both had major interests. Employees retrenched from PAL because of the spinoff were employed by Macro Asia and Lufthansa Technik on new contracts.”
Last week a Rivera and the PALEA led a noise barrage at the PAL IFC to jumpstart the campaign against the spinoff. Rivera also revealed that they have organized a signature campaign versus the spinoff among PAL employees. He insisted that “Spinoff is not a solution to company losses but a scheme to contractualize labor and raise more profit not from better efficiency of work but from greater exploitation of workers.”
Meanwhile Rivera appealed to the International Labor Organization High Level Mission (ILO HLM) to investigate the case of PAL since management’s suspension of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) and spinoff of operations has weakened one of the erstwhile strongest unions in the country. The ILO HLM is tasked to hear complaints of government’s violations of Convention 87 on the freedom to unionize and Convention 98 on right of collective bargaining.
According to Rivera, in 1998 PAL with the connivance of a government formed Inter-Agency Task Force pressured the PALEA into suspending the CBA for 10 years. Rivera, then PALEA vice-president, questioned the CBA suspension on grounds that the right to self-organization and collective bargaining, being founded on public policy, cannot be waived. But the Supreme Court in a precedent-setting decision affirmed the 10-year CBA suspension despite clear provisions of the labor code that 5 years is the maximum statutory life of a CBA and 5 years is the maximum period for a sole and exclusive bargaining agent after which its representation status can be contested by another union.
Rivera is also calling the attention of the ILO HLM on the results of the elections for union officers of PALEA that has remained in limbo for 7 years since 2002. The case has remained unresolved by the Supreme Court effectively paralyzing the operations of the union and giving management an alibi to deny representation status to PALEA.
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