Labor dept. assumes jurisdiction over PAL-cabin crew row

PHILIPPINE Airlines (PAL) on Wednesday assured its passengers of unhampered operations after the Department of Labor and Employment assumed jurisdiction over the flag-carrier’s labor dispute with its cabin crew union. In a statement, Cielo Villaluna, PAL spokesman, said that Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz will assume jurisdiction over the PAL labor case.

On Tuesday, last-ditch talks between the management of PAL and Flight Attendants’ and Stewards’ Association of the Philippines (Fasap) broke down and the union said that they will stage their strike in the middle of October or the first week of November, which falls during the traditional All Saints’ Day vacation break.

Villaluna said that an assumption order from the Labor department has the force and effect of a status quo order, which means that Fasap cannot stage a strike or work stoppage while the labor case is being adjudicated.

At the same time, she said PAL management is also enjoined by the order from performing any act that could disturb prevailing conditions.

“Philippine Airlines is grateful to Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz for putting public interest ahead of any particular group. Fasap’s repeated strike threats are a cause of grave concern for PAL passengers whose travel plans are being unfairly disrupted,” Villaluna said.

“Now FASAP is banned from staging a strike or any work stoppage, our passengers are assured of unhampered operations. We advise them to book early for their flights especially for the coming semestral break and All Saints/Souls Day holidays,” she added.

As the labor case is submitted for arbitration, PAL and Fasap will be asked to submit their position papers on three pending issues—economic package (or wage increase), retirement age and maternity/pregnancy-related benefits—for resolution by the Labor secretary.

PAL will show the Labor department that the airline’s P105-million salary increase and additional rice allocation offer are predicated on the company’s capacity to pay after P15-billion losses in the last two consecutive years.

Meanwhile, Villaluna said PAL’s proposal to change the retirement age to 45 from 40 is benchmarked against its competitors in the Southeast region and the airline industry in general, which puts a high premium on the image and physical fitness of frontline safety officers such as cabin crews.

She added that management’s offer of expanded maternity-related benefits is something Fasap should consider instead of rejecting PAL’s offers “lock stock and barrel.”

“We hope Secretary Baldoz would be able to judiciously resolve the contentious issues soonest so that PAL can operate smoothly and efficiently without threats of any work stoppage that unnecessarily scares away customers and investors,” Villaluna said.

Fasap warned

Baldoz warned that a strike move by Fasap would be declared illegal.

“They cannot conduct a strike right now or else it will be declared illegal,” she said during an interview over ABS-CBN.

She said that Fasap should still wait for the cooling-off period before they can hold a strike.

Under the Labor Code of the Philippines, a cooling-off period is necessary to give a chance to the warring parties to negotiate again.

Baldoz earlier said that the government can assume jurisdiction over the labor row if PAL management and Fasap fail to reach an agreement.

“Once I assume jurisdiction, ‘di puwedeng mag-stage ng strike. Ang nakataya dito ay public interest—iyong interes ng riding public. Kaya habang dinidesisyunan ko ang kaso, walang galawan [a strike can no longer be staged. What is at stake here is public interest—particularly the interest of the riding public. So while we are tackling the labor case, the warring parties should not make any punitive moves],” she stressed.

‘Dancing’ attendants

Meanwhile, a unique way to keep bored and tired eyes locked on an airline’s cabin crew during an in-flight safety demo has become the latest YouTube sensation from the Philippines.

Passengers traveling with budget carrier Cebu Pacific will soon be given safety instructions via a toe-tapping flight safety dance routine to the Lady Gaga tune “Just Dance.”

A test flight for the new safety demo, filmed by a stunned passenger, has gone viral on YouTube with over seven million hits in a week. It is the second major Filipino dance clip to become a viral YouTube hit, following a Michael Jackson-themed performance of tangerine prison suit-clad prisoners which first appeared in 2007.

At the end of the two-minute clip, passengers give the orange-clad cabin crew a round of applause—perhaps not the usual reaction to instructions about oxygen masks, lifejackets and how to find the exits.

Candice Iyog, the airline’s vice president for marketing, said it will roll out the dance on selected domestic and international flights later this month.

“We have always been a fun and very family-oriented company,” she told Agence France-Presse. “The reaction has been positive. The passengers did pay attention.”

The airline hired professional choreographers to teach hand picked female cabin crew to help turn passengers’ attention away from the windows.

Cebu Pacific is not the first airline willing to use its staff in unusual ways to keep the attention of its passengers.

In June 2009, Air New Zealand ran a safety video and ad campaign featuring naked employees, their modesty protected only by body paint and strategically placed seatbelts.

But the Cebu Pacific dance moves have gotten their share of detractors in the Philippines.

Several legislators and Fasap reacted in fury to the safety demo, saying it is demeaning to women.

The women’s political party Gabriela said the routine is “a cheap promotional gimmick” and branded the airline “a purveyor of sexism and machismo.”

And the Philippine Airlines cabin crew union said the video did not help the union’s campaign to lift a company policy that forces female flight attendants to retire at the age of 40.

“This gender-insensitive packaging is a throwback to the unenlightened past during the 50s and 60s when ‘stewardesses’ were made to wear hot pants and mini-skirts to appeal to the dominantly male business travelers,” it said.

Cebu Pacific serves the Philippines and East Asian destinations and is known for its cheap fares and token prizes awarded to passengers at in-flight parlor games. –Darwin G. Amojelar Reporter with Reports From Jomar Canlas and AFP