The saga of PAL – our national flag carrier

On PAL: In 1997, Lucio Tan bought the Philippine Airlines, which was already on the brink of closing down. After pouring in a substantial capital, he was able to sustain the airline’s needs. However, a year after PAL experienced its first major crisis. I remember in 1998 when I was in Germany with my parents and about to go back to the Philippines on a PAL flight, we found ourselves stuck at the airport. The Airline Pilots Association of PAL staged a terrible strike. During that time PAL was about to fire 250 ALPAP strikers who defied a government return-to-work order. By the way, PAL won a ruling from the Court of Appeals to pursue a P730 million damage lawsuit against the Airline Pilots Association of the Philippines (ALPAP) in connection with the 1998 pilots’ strike that stopped the airline’s operations and left thousands of passengers stranded overseas. In 2010, PALEA held another rally at the DOLE to protest the decision of then Acting Labor Secretary Romeo Lagman who declared PAL mass layoff to be a “valid exercise of management prerogative.” Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) vice-chairperson, insisted that there are no sufficient bases for retrenchment. Retrenchment is a measure of last resort which should only be undertaken in case of serious and imminent losses. A close review of the financial statements and disclosures of PAL reveals that its business condition is improving and not deteriorating, and does not therefore negate the necessity for retrenchment.

Well, that’s history and now PAL is challenged again with another strike. Early this September PAL obtained the $50 million line of credit from Credit Suisse to fund most of its planned spin-off for its catering, reservations and ground service divisions. The bulk of the money will be used to pay the severance package offered to about 2,400 PAL workers who have been laid off by the move. This outsourcing program is said to restructure and make the airline leaner and more competitive in the long term.

Last Tuesday, thousands of passengers were stranded at the NAIA Terminal 2 after PAL employees staged a walkout in protest of the airline’s outsourcing of the management of airport services. I know a strike is a strike and PALEA needed to get the attention of the PAL management. But I guess they decided to do things in haste.

The PAL ground crew and cabin crew strike came as a double whammy for the PAL management. Not only did they have to contend with the strikers, the weather compounded the problem as well. Why? All the passengers wanted to get home but the cabin crew and the ground crew kept them inside the airplane for hours making the passengers so mad. Just imagine a cage full of ‘angry birds’ wanting to get out.

I had some friends in the ‘affected’ flights texting me. They said that the cabin crew announced that they were having a strike and so all passengers must do self-service. Upon reaching the tarmac, no ground crew opened the doors right away. I’m just so glad no one had an anxiety attack that could have easily led into a heart attack. Staying inside an airplane for about two hours and even more can be dangerous for health reasons that is. As a matter fact, it was like a hostage taking event without guns. Why involve the passengers in your fight?

Upon disembarkation passengers waited for their luggage for hours because the ground crew wouldn’t budge. Susmariosep!

I’m pretty sure Lucio Tan wants to clean up (he doesn’t need this headache) as soon as possible so that he can sell PAL to a new owner. But any businessman interested to buy will always want to make sure that everything is free from internal problems. This includes the complex labor problems PAL currently faces.

The present pronouncements of the management on outsourcing and allegedly removing benefits which personnel have long enjoyed have brought about panic among the workers that led to disruption of public service and on a broader scale – a bad thing for the tourism industry as well.

P-Noy’s careless statement about accusing the worker’s action as an “economic sabotage” must be retracted. He is our President and any president of a country or leader for that matter must always be on the neutral ground. The government has the responsibility to show the citizens that they are honest brokers. They must protect the basic rights of the workers.

P-Noy must study the problem carefully and make sure all workers get what is rightfully theirs before he can say that they did wrong. What about PAL management? Did they do the right thing?

At the end of the day, both parties (ground/cabin crew and management) must reach a compromise. They must make things work.

My alikabok tells me that some people in PAL claim that in two weeks time, the problem will stabilize. As for now PAL is getting people to fill-up the empty positions. Many are retired PAL personnel who have gotten their full benefits already and will work as outsourced personnel. PAL is allegedly filing criminal liabilities to the strikers and I think they also have terminated many of its crew and ground staff.

Here’s hoping that the PAL saga will end soon. Let us pray that our national flag carrier gets its strong wings back and be able to fly high again! –Sara Soliven De Guzman (The Philippine Star)