TUCP on ITF: Boycott servicing PAL for labor unity for PALEA and for security of tenure

PRESS RELEASE

TRADE UNION CONGRESS OF THE PHILIPPINES                    06 April 2011
TUCP-PGEA Compound, Maharlika cor. Masaya Street, Diliman, Quezon City

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TUCP on ITF: Boycott servicing PAL for labor unity for PALEA and for security of tenure

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), the biggest and most representative labor confederation in the country extends full support to the PAL Employees Association (PALEA). It is waging war for employment and regular and decent jobs for all.

In a letter sent to International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) General Secretary David Cockroft, TUCP requested ITF and all its affiliate organizations in countries with which PAL has landing rights, to boycott PAL and refrain from giving ground services and maintenance as a sign of solidarity for the beleaguered PAL employees.

We hope that would force the government and PAL management to a dialogue for fair, just and equitable resolution of the situation,” says TUCP President Democrito T. Mendoza.

PALEA President Gerry Rivera reported that the recent decision of the Office of the President, allowing the Philippine Airlines Management to outsource three of its core services, will effectively displace 2,600 union members of the PALEA, to be replaced by contractual workers.

TUCP is seriously concerned about the escalating difficulty of workers and unions to exercise our rights to self-organization and collective bargaining and the challenges to job security –rights that are guaranteed by the Philippine Constitution.

“To us, the case of PALEA and the bigger issue of workers’ right to decent employment and security of tenure need urgent action. We are calling for local and international solidarity. We cannot be a country of contractual and slave labor,” says Mendoza.

TUCP believes that this is a violation of Philippines laws and the PAL-PALEA CBA. It is ‘legalized’ union busting. It sends a chilling message to workers and unions that outsourcing and contractualization has now become the labor and economic policy of the government.

Thirty-four labor organizations, together with the TUCP and its affiliate federations, forged a Labor Unity to support PALEA and undertake firm actions in the form of mass mobilization, motorcade, signature campaign, and public debate, among others, to send a strong message to the President of the Philippines and the DOLE that workers’ constitutionally-guaranteed rights should be respected and promoted.

Mendoza continued: “We are also calling for a congressional and senate inquiry on the pervasive practice of contractual work arrangements and abuse of apprenticeship, not only in PAL but in all industries and sectors. Decent work has four pillars –respect for labor standards, decent employment, social protection and social dialogue. Contractual works is not decent work!”