PAL personnel refuse to take separation pay from flag-carrier

THE Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (Palea) will not accept the separation pay offered by Philippine Airlines (PAL), the group said in a statement on Friday.

The employees cannot be lured by a price tag that holds back their right to live a life of dignity, the statement added.

“Regular job is our bottom line. We rejected the outsourcing plan because we value our dignity as regular workers. We lose it and we lose everything,” Palea President Gerry Rivera said.

Union members, however, remained optimistic that they could win back their jobs either through the courts or the streets.

Earlier, the airline said also in a statement that it would start releasing on October 13 the P2.6-billion separation package for its workers from three non-core units whose functions were outsourced to third-party service providers on October 1.

A separation pay close to P800,000 will be received by the majority of the workers.

The amount includes 125 percent of their monthly salary for every year of service, P100,000 gratuity pay and 100-percent converted-to-cash accrued vacation and sick leaves.

A guaranteed salary and hospitalization benefits for one year are also assured by the airline for those who transferred to the service providers.

But PAL said that the checks for 338 former employees who joined Paleas’ wildcat strike on September 27 were on hold pending their final clearances. –Mayvelin U. Caraballo, Reporter, Manila Times