Labor seeks PAL compromise

Labor leaders designated by President Benigno Aquino III to help oversee industrial peace have urged the government to work out a compromise between Philippine Airlines and its restive ground employees, in accordance with the mandate of the Constitution for the State “to provide full protection to labor.”

In a joint statement adopted on Friday, members of the Labor Group of the Tripartite Industrial Peace Council (TIPC) said the government “should regard PAL and its workers as partners, and not mere parties to a contract.”

In pushing for a government-sponsored compromise, the labor leaders invoked the duties of the State, as prescribed in the Article XIII, Section 3 of the 1987 Constitution, namely, to afford full protection to labor; guarantee the rights of workers to self-organization and security of tenure; and promote shared responsibility between workers and employers and the preferential use of voluntary modes of settling disputes.

They appealed to both PAL management and the PAL Employees’ Association (Palea) “to explore all avenues of compromise in the spirit of social dialogue.”

“We believe it is never too late to resolve this issue reasonably.  We must do so in the collective interest of the riding public, the airline, and its workers,” they said.

The labor leaders issued their joint statement through former Sen. Ernesto Herrera, secretary general of the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines.

The Labor Group of the TIPC is composed of 20 national labor leaders. They were appointed by the President to serve as TIPC members.

They represent some of the largest unions in the country, including the TUCP, Federation of Free Workers, Associated Labor Union, National Congress of Unions in the Sugar Industry in the Philippines, National Union of Bank Employees, Philippine Government Employees Association and Philippine Transport and General Worker’s Organization.

PAL has decided to “outsource” and relegate large segments of its operations to independent service providers, causing the dislocation of 2,600 ground workers belonging to the PAL Employees Association.

In a related development, Palea called on the Tourism Congress to exert “moral suasion” on the PAL management to open talks to resolve the ongoing labor dispute in the face of the company’s refusal to negotiate with the union.