Labor hits DOLE ruling on PAL outsourcing row

The Negros Labor Coalition condemns in the strongest possible terms the recent decision of Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz upholding the planned outsourcing of services and consequent severance from employment of 2,600 affected Philippine Airline employees, NLC convenor Wennie Sancho said yesterday.

That would result in the termination of about 2,600 workers who are members of the Philippine Airlines Employees Association, he said.

“This in effect is union busting and will deny the workers of their constitutional right to security of tenure. This is a death blow against free trade unionism in the Philippines, violating the workers’ right to self organization,” Sancho added.

He said they are calling for the solidarity of all workers to oppose and condemn this decision, and for a nationwide strike and civil disobedience against this government that has totally ignored the plight of the workers by legalizing contractualization.

The irony is that DOLE that is a government agency that is supposed to protect the right of the workers is now instrumental in destroying the right of the workers, he said.

This is a dangerous precedent that will cause the demise of the trade union movement in our country, Sancho said.

“This is the unconstitutional and anti-labor and it would appear that the labor secretary is more inclined to protect the interest of management rather than the poor and oppressed workers,” he said.

“We might as well repeal RA 6727 and declare the Labor Code null and void because it was violated by the government,” Sancho said.

But Baldoz, in a statement for the DOLE, emphasized that the 2,600 PAL employees who are part of its in-flight catering, airport services (cargo handling), and call center reservations operations, all identified as non-core activities of the airline in its 1998 Supplemental Rehabilitation Plan approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission, are all guaranteed with employment and hefty transition benefits.

The decision, in declaring valid the termination of the covered rank-and-file employees, established two parameters under the CBA:  the exercise of the management prerogative was done in a just, reasonable, humane, and lawful manner; and  the observance of the 45-day consultation period, required in the CBA, before implementing the reorganization.

Baldoz said that the just and humane exercise of the management prerogative to close and outsource the services is reflected in the improved transition benefits that will be granted all affected employees which, Baldoz explained in the decision, are “over and above the benefits granted in the original decision and even under existing laws”.

The terminated employees shall be absorbed by their respective service providers, and PAL shall guarantee payment of their salaries for a period of at least one year from the time of their separation from employment as the original decision provided, the DOLE said.

The employees will be absorbed by SkyKitchen Phil. Inc. (catering), SkyLogistics Phil. Inc. (airport services) and ePLDT Ventus, a PLDT subsidiary (call center), according to the decision.*CPG, Visayan Star