MANILA, Philippines?Downplaying reports that a strike is in the offing at the Philippine Airlines (PAL), Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz Monday said she would use her authority to prevent any disruption in the operation of the national flag carrier.

Baldoz said she was confident that PAL management and the Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines (Fasap) would still be able to come to an agreement even though negotiations had dragged on since their last collective bargaining agreement (CBA) expired in 2007.

Fasap vice president Andy Ortega last week said the union would ?definitely file a notice of strike? this week after consultations with members.

?[After a notice of strike is filed], it will take 30 days for a cooling off period to still look for a settlement and another seven days if they secure a majority vote to support the strike,? Baldoz said.

?So we have more than one month to enable the government, the flight attendants union, and the PAL management to look for mutually agreed solutions. I?m hopeful that we can look forward to that.?

But if the negotiations still fail, the labor secretary said she would use her authority to assume jurisdiction over the labor case and prevent a strike.

?It has been declared by no less than the Supreme Court that disputes in our airline industry, especially PAL which remains to be the national carrier, is imbued with national interests,? Baldoz said.

On Wednesday last week, Ortega said Fasap was going on strike after mediation talks at the National Conciliation and Mediation Board between the union and PAL collapsed on Aug. 9.

Fasap withdrew from the mediation talks after PAL refused to change what the union described as unfair policies on mandatory retirement age and on maternity and pregnancy leaves.

PAL countered that the union had agreed to these terms in their previous CBAs. It also said it was willing to discuss the controversial retirement age of flight attendants but only in the next CBA negotiations.