MANILA, Philippines—The night before Philippine Airlines’ operations were crippled by an unannounced strike, the company’s labor union agreed not to hold any protests to ensure that services to passengers were not disrupted as Typhoon Pedring neared Luzon, Transportation and Communication Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II said Thursday.
Roxas said talks between the management and the union were brokered by the labor department the night before the typhoon.
“From what I understand, there was an agreement the night before that no labor actions would be carried out as the storm approached,” Roxas told reporters.
PAL’s operations were crippled on Tuesday as members of the PAL Employees Association (Palea) held a “sit down” protest to denounce the airline’s plans to cut 2,600 jobs through the closure of its in-flight catering, airport services and call center departments.
A total of 172 flights were cancelled that day, affecting 14,000 passengers. Union members had been put on leave with pay until the end of their employment contracts on September 30.
PAL has put in place its own replacement workers, but the airline was still operating at a significantly reduced capacity after failing to sign up enough employees to replace union members. The airline also moved several domestic flights to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1.
Roxas supported pronouncements by Malacañang that it would study the possibility of filing economic sabotage charges against Palea for causing disruptions in transportation services.
“The government is always interested in ensuring regularity and reliability of transport services…. The labor dispute has been decided upon by the government. We’ve reviewed it and heard all sides,” Roxas said.
Palea vice-president Alnem Pretencio confirmed that the union met with management Monday night, but denied that they agreed not to hold any protests.
“What we agreed on was that we would not hold any big rally in the airport area, but we never discussed other possible protest actions,” he said in an interview. “Our backs were pushed against the wall and we had no choice but to act to protect our jobs,” he said. He declined to give further details about the meeting.
PAL’s retrenchment plan, which was approved twice by the labor department and twice again by the Office of the President, was in line with the company’s efforts to streamline operations. PAL officials have also argued that outsourcing of “non-core” services has become an industry-wide trend for airlines around the world.
The three companies hired to replace PAL’s closed units were Sky Logistics, Sky Kitchen and SPi Global Holdings Inc.—the first two linked to PAL owner Lucio Tan. Employees covered by the retrenchment plan were offered jobs at the three companies—at lower pay— but most of them refused the offer.