PAL workers willing to return to ease disruptions

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.

“We will go back to work while waiting for the Supreme Court to rule that outsourcing is illegal,” Bong Palad, Palea secretary general, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer. “If the court declares otherwise, then we will abide by the law and comply with the third employee agreement.”

Palad said union members offered to return to their posts to spare more passengers from being adversely affected by the failure of their replacements to “fly PAL.”

“It has become clear since the forcible eviction of protesting Palea members that the replacement workers and scabs cannot normalize operations and make PAL fly,” he said.

He also said that the outsourcing project of PAL that started Saturday had failed, based on the unabated flight cancellations.

“The failure of the outsourcing plan is the cause of the continuing flight cancellations and delays,” he said.

A PAL operations advisory disclosed that 66 flights were cancelled Saturday, 55 of them domestic and 11 international.

A PAL employee who asked not to be named said that based on departed flights, “Operations capability is still below 50 percent.”

She added that although lines forming in front of the check-in counters had eased a bit, “it will take some time before operations will normalize due to lack of personnel.”

Palea president Gerry Rivera said in a statement Saturday that PAL’s claim of financial ruin was “a modern-day fairy tale.”

“PAL does not have to choose between saving the jobs of 2,600 Palea members and the remaining 5,000 employees since it is not in danger of bankruptcy,” Rivera said.

He noted that contrary to management’s statement of heavy losses, “PAL continues to earn a net income of $72.5 million or more than P3 billion in its last fiscal year and is already projecting a modest profit for the present year.”

Rivera added, “The threat of ruin if outsourcing is not implemented is plain and simple blackmail and propaganda by PAL. The reason the dispute has dragged on for the last two years and the standoff exists is because of PAL management’s stubbornness.”

Also Saturday, an international migrants rights group urged overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to boycott PAL and support its ground crew union in the ongoing labor row at the flag carrier.

Migrante International called on all its member organizations, chapters and networks abroad to boycott PAL and support Palea in its fight against “massive retrenchment, union-busting and contractualization.”

“We fully support the fight of PAL workers. This is a clear example of how capitalist interests trample upon labor rights. We salute them for their resolve and commitment to fight for what is just despite suppression and underhanded tactics by the PAL management,” said Garry Martinez, Migrante International chair.

Martinez also criticized President Benigno Aquino III for “ignoring the demands of the workers and instead taking up the cudgels” for PAL owner and business mogul Lucio Tan.

“It is clear in Aquino’s position that he is no different from others before him. He is in connivance with other capitalists and big compradors in protecting their class interests,” Martinez said.