PCCI backs DoLE rule on PAL spinoffs

The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), the country’s biggest trade group, threw its support to the decision of the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) to restructure the operations of Philippine Airlines (PAL) which the group said considered the welfare of the majority, including the passengers that would be affected by a full-blown confrontation that may lead to the halting of the flag-carrier’s operations.

PCCI president Francis Chua said the DoLE decision was sound as it increased the severance benefits of more than 2,000 PAL employees while giving them the option to gain another job by applying in the third party service providers.

“The decision of Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz is laudable because it would not directly affect the economy in terms of adding burden to the country’s unemployment. We also encourage PAL employees to look at the bigger picture of the situation so as not to exacerbate the circumstances,” Chua said.

The management and union workers of PAL, meawhile, were summoned by DoLE for a third meeting to settle the labor dispute plaguing the airline in a bid to stop the workers from staging a threatened strike.

“The National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) will convene both the Palea (Philippines Airlines Employees’ Association) and the PAL in a conciliation-mediation meeting on Nov. 18, the third such meeting, over the notice of strike that the Palea had filed last Nov. 5.

The Palea has attended the meeting called yesterday by Malacañang at the office of the Executive Secretary where they insisted that the PAL’s planned mass layoff is not the solution to the financial problems of the airline company.

While complimentary on DoLE’s decision, PCCI also urges the Labor department to make sure that employees that would be absorbed by the third party service providers would not be hired in a contractual basis as feared by Palea.

It also urges the government to come up with clear-cut policies that would allow companies to outsource non-core competence operations to avoid similar labor rows in the future.

Outsourcing would also allow companies to concentrate on their core competencies, thus making it more equipped to survive in a globally competitive arena, Chua said.

Baldoz added the President has the power to review all decisions of the members of his Cabinet, and this applies to the DoLE ruling on the labor dispute of the Palea with the PAL management..

“He has control over department secretaries and can pass upon their decisions,” she said.

Baldoz said that during the second meeting on Nov. 11, the PAL had submitted to the DoLE a motion to dismiss the notice of strike of the Palea on the ground that the DoLE had already ruled on the issues that Palea has raised.

She said they have to receive any document that would show that the Palea has appealed the decision either to the Office of the President or the courts.

“We strongly share the optimistic view of Aquino for ‘a negotiated settlement’ in the labor dispute. We continue to work to end the dispute by mutually acceptable solutions,” she said.

“I reiterate that while contracting out is allowed under the Labor Code, this should be lawful and with evidence of good faith,” Baldoz said.

“I also reiterate that the DoLE’s decision specifically applies only to the labor dispute between Palea and the Philippine Airlines management, particularly that involving its non-core services, as I have enunciated in the public hearing of the committee on labor at the House of Representatives last Nov. 10,” she said.

“During that hearing, I have said that the government has yet to craft and adopt policy on outsourcing. We also urge the management of the Philippine Airlines to refrain from any action or from issuing any statement that tend to undermine the government’s conciliation-mediation efforts,” she added. –Ayen Infante and Mina Diaz, Daily Tribune