3 big labor groups fighting PAL ruling

Cite ‘clear danger to labor rights’

MANILA, Philippines—Saying there was a “clear and present danger to labor rights,” the country’s biggest labor groups have set aside their differences to ask President Benigno Aquino III to reverse the labor department’s ruling allowing the retrenchment of 2,600 workers of Philippine Airlines (PAL).

Various labor groups, numbering about 16—from the militant Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) to the moderate Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP)—have joined hands in protesting Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz’s decision allowing the retrenchment, Gerry Rivera, PAL Employees’ Association (PALEA) president, said Wednesday.

“We call on the government to take notice of this historic solidarity of the full spectrum of the labor movement to defend regular jobs and to fight labor contractualization,” said Rivera, who is also the vice chair of Partido ng Manggagawa (PM).

In a decision promulgated on Oct. 29, the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) gave PAL the green light to proceed with the layoff of 2,600 employees to pave the way for outsourcing services.

Baldoz said contracting out services and closing down PAL’s in-flight catering, airport services and call center reservation operations were lawful.

“It is not too late for Malacañang to intervene in the PAL labor row in the interest of safeguarding constitutionally mandated workers’ rights in the face of corporate restructuring,” Rivera said.

Dangerous decision

At a gathering on Monday in Quezon City, leaders of the TUCP, KMU, PM and the Alliance of Progressive Labor and other labor groups agreed on a statement of solidarity with PALEA.

They also condemned the Baldoz ruling as a “clear and present danger to labor rights and may be the last nail on the coffin of job security.”

“This decision is dangerous because it sets aside the PAL-PALEA collective bargaining agreement where it is clearly stated that contracting out the work of regular employees is prohibited,” the unity statement said.

The statement also said that the Baldoz ruling “disregards our jurisprudence and laws and lays out the conditions for the retrenchment of workers even in companies that claim to be losing money.”

Fight of all workers

The statement said the decision would open the door for widespread contractualization. “This could be the last nail on the coffin of job security in our country,” it warned.

“That is why… this is not just a fight of PAL employees. It is also the fight of all Filipino workers. Employers, however big or small, would be emboldened to follow PAL (if Baldoz’s ruling is upheld),” it added.

As a result of the Baldoz ruling, regular employees will be removed and replaced by contractual workers who have lesser pay and benefits and have no job security and union protection, the labor groups said.

Survival

PAL said its plan to cut 2,600 jobs to reduce costs was necessary for the flag carrier’s survival in the competitive aviation industry.

“DoLE upheld not only once, but twice, PAL’s position that the planned spin-off ‘is a matter of sound business judgment … in order to maintain the survival and sound financial health of the company in a globally competitive airline industry,’” PAL president Jaime Bautista said at a hearing by the House committee on labor on Wednesday.

Bautista, who is also PAL’s chief operating officer, said this was spurred by the need to restructure and reduce costs to be “sustainably viable.”

Severance benefits

The outsourcing plan will cost the company P2.5 billion in severance benefits. The company plans to borrow from state-owned banks.

Outsourcing has been done by many airlines worldwide which are now more profitable, as reported by the International Air Transport Association, Bautista said.

PAL has also announced plans to outsource other services such as its medical department.

Bautista said PAL’s massive losses in the last two years amounting to $312 million, or almost P15 billion, necessitated the spin-off to ensure PAL’s continued survival.

Despite the flag carrier’s losses in the last two years, PALEA said the airline’s own disclosures showed it swinging to profitability this year.

PALEA opposed the outsourcing plan, saying that this should only be done as a last resort.

But the management said the sale of the three noncore units was only done as a last resort after 14 major cost-cutting measures proved inadequate to guarantee PAL’s continued operations, Bautista said.

The labor union has filed a notice of strike in protest of the alleged negotiation by PAL management with individual employees, illegally bypassing the union’s leadership.

Other labor groups

Other labor groups that signed the unity statement included the Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines, ABS-CBN IJM Union, Associated Labor Unions, Archdiocese of Manila Labor Concerns, Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino, Church Labor Conference.

Fortune Tobacco Labor Union, Liga Manggagawa, Manggagawa para sa Kalayaan ng Bayan, National Federation of Labor, Pagkakaisa ng Manggagawa sa Transportasyon, Public Services Labor Independent Federation, Union Network Philippines, United Filipino Service Workers, United Transport Workers Union, Urban Missionaries and United Transport Workers Union.

Former Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. attended the meeting and offered to assist in the filing of a case in the Court of Appeals to stop the retrenchment. –Philip Tubeza, Paolo Montecillo, Philippine Daily Inquirer