Outsourcing

The Labor Department has upheld Philippine Airlines over its refusal to start collective bargaining negotiations with the union.

The National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) has dismissed charges of unfair labor practices raised by PAL Employees Association (Palea) of unfair labor practice of PAL management for its alleged refusal to commence collective bargaining negotiations with the union early this year.

MANILA, Philippines – Malacañang said yesterday the issue involving the Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) was already with the Court of Appeals and that it was not aware of any request from the union to have a closed-door meeting with President Aquino.

We can perhaps look at what’s happening at Philippine Airlines today as something like birth pain. Maybe all the unpleasantness happening are necessary so that a new Philippine Airlines can emerge that’s not only profitable but a worthy flag carrier of the Republic. But I am not that sure.

The National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) has junked the unfair labor practice case filed by the ground crew union of Philippine Airlines (PAL) against the airline’s management for its alleged refusal to start negotiation for a new collective bargaining agreement early this year.

The management of Philippine Airlines (PAL) warned yesterday its former employees against staging protests infront of the PAL Inflight Center building which hampers the flow of PAL’s business.

One of the most frustrating things about the media coverage—and consequently, public perception—of the ongoing Philippine Airlines debacle is the effort to oversimplify the conflict as a simple labor-management dispute.

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…

MANILA, Philippines – Philippine Airlines (PAL) yesterday rejected the offer of striking ground employees to return to work and end the labor dispute.

Flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) said yesterday there’s no turning back on the airline’s outsourcing program as it turned down its former employees’ offer to return to work in exchange for keeping them in their old posts.

Members of the Philippine Airlines Employees Association (Palea) have offered to return to their jobs to avoid further disruptions to the operations of Philippine Airlines, but on the condition that management halt its plan to outsource their jobs until the Supreme Court hands down a decision on the matter, according to the union’s leader.

MANILA, Philippines – The management of the country’s flag carrier Philippine Airlines is no longer interested in going back to the negotiating table to discuss ways to end the impasse with striking employees, PAL president Jaime Bautista said yesterday.

Philippine Airlines (PAL) yesterday defended the implementation of its spin off/outsourcing program against critics, pointing out that the company is well within its right to restructure operations to ensure long-term survival and to save the jobs of its 5,000 remaining employees.

The wildcat strike staged by the PAL Employees Association which stranded some 14,000 passengers and caused millions of damage to the riding public, Philippine Airlines and the national economy is a clear case of the tyranny of a minority group.

PHILIPPINE Airlines said it was operating on a reduced schedule Thursday with 71 flights canceled, 28 of them to international destinations, as it entered the third day of a protest by its ground workers.

SOME 40 years ago, Sonny Coloma was a campus firebrand. He was elected to the University of the Philippines Student Council as one of the candidates of a leftwing alliance, which included the KM, SDK and similar radical youth groups that supported the “national democratic” program of the Communist Party.

Unfortunate and grave! This is all I can say about that wildcat strike launched by the Philippine Airlines (PAL) employees’ union, Philippine Airlines Employees Association (Palea), last Tuesday, as Typhoon “Pedring” battered the metropolis. That strike stranded thousands of PAL passengers not only in the country but overseas and disrupted for a good 11 hours…

Philippine Airlines (PAL) management said it has resumed its flight operations, albeit operating on a reduced schedule, with the deployment of two US-bound flights, three regional and two domestic flights early yesterday morning, amid charges that certain ground equipment was damaged by striking workers of the flag carrier’s ground crew union.

PHILIPPINE Airlines resumed operations Wednesday but continued to struggle with a strike by its ground workers, causing it to cancel 104 more flights including 40 to international destinations.

TOKYO — President Aquino warned striking employees of Philippine Airlines (PAL) that protesting workers could face charges, including economic sabotage, for holding a strike at the height of typhoon “Pedring” last Tuesday.

PHILIPPINE Airlines canceled 172 flights into and out of its Manila hub on Tuesday after its ground workers refused to work to protest their impending layoff as a result of the company’s program to contract ground services from third-party providers.

MANILA, Philippines – Last Friday’s protest actions by some members of Philippine Airlines’ (PAL) ground union and their sympathizers had no material impact on airline operations, the flag carrier said yesterday.

■ Some 2,600 workers in the airline’s catering, airport services and call center operations get the pink slip PHILIPPINE Airlines said Thursday it had sent termination notices to about 2,600 workers as it started outsourcing jobs such as catering amid losses.

MANILA, Aug. 26 – The Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) filed on Friday a petition before the Court of Appeals (CA) questioning the national flag-carrier Philippine Airlines’ outsourcing plan which will pave the way for the termination of 2,600 workers in September this year.

MANILA, Philippines – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) are in the process of crafting new guidelines governing outsourcing of jobs in the banking industry.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) are in the process of crafting new guidelines governing outsourcing of jobs in the banking industry.

CEBU, Philippines – The City Council is urging Congress and the Civil Service Commission to study the impact of reported practices of some government agencies and local government units in outsourcing personnel from private manpower agencies.

MANILA, Philippines – Local labor unions must learn to adjust as more companies outsource their services to remain competitive in the global market, an economics expert said in a forum over the weekend.

MANILA, Philippines—Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz on Wednesday said that “outsourcing is already with us,” defending her decision to allow Philippine Airlines (PAL) to spin off three noncore services that will result in the layoff of 2,600 workers.

Last week, NBC launched a new show that tries to find comedy in the all-too-real conditions of outsourcing. While the first episode was witty—making light of age-old cultural clashes and stereotypes, there is nothing funny about the reality of outsourcing and the impact it has both on the American worker and their counterparts around the…