PAL crew insist: No outsourcing

MANILA, Philippines—After it lost several of its pilots whose resignations have resulted in delayed or cancelled flights, trouble is brewing at the Philippine Airlines (PAL) anew after its employees threatened to go on strike if management pushes through with its outsourcing scheme.

In a news conference in the House of Representatives, Philippine Airlines Employees Association (Palea) president Bong Palad said he and his members will plan their next course of action after the August 12 dialogue with Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz.

“The case in now pending at the office of Secretary Baldoz, we hope we will have a productive dialogue,” Palad said.

PAL’S spin-off and outsourcing plan would transfer three of the airline’s units to third-party service providers and would affect 2,600 regular employees belonging to the Call Center Reservations, In-Flight Catering, and Airport Services.

The employees have been served termination effective May 31 this year, but the union raised the matter to the Department of Labor and Employment, which assumed jurisdiction over the case.

In a 32-page decision penned by then acting labor secretary Romeo C. Lagman in June, DoLE upheld the legality of PAL’s planned outsourcing/spin-off, saying it is “based on lawful ground and all in a valid exercise of managerial prerogative and as such is valid and lawful in all respects.”

Palea, however, said the move was illegal and constitutes unfair labor practice.

Palad also decried the management’s refusal to start collective bargaining negotiations with the union, even as the moratorium has lapsed two years ago.

He said the union has been cooperative enough to hold off negotiations from 1998 to 2008 to help management pay off its debts and procure new aircraft.

“After you have paid your debts and purchased new aircraft, you want to terminate us,” he said.

Representative Raymond Democrito Mendoza of the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines party-list expressed support or the union.

“This should remind PAL management of the value of their employees’ services and that they should be treated accordingly with their rights always put into paramount consideration,” he said. –Lira Dalangin-Fernandez, INQUIRER.net