House probes impending mass layoff of aviation workers

The House labor committee is set to investigate the impending mass retrenchment of aviation industry workers as a result of the transfer of all international operations to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 next year.

At the same time, Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) officials called as blatant lie the claim of Transportation Undersecretary Wilfredo Trinidad that there would be no mass layoff of workers at the NAIA Terminals 1 and 2.

The House of Representatives, in a plenary session last week, referred to the labor committee chaired by Rep. Roseller Barinaga the speech of sectoral Rep. Etta Rosales wherein she raised the concerns of aviation workers about their impending layoff.

Some 10,000 workers at the NAIA Terminals 1 and 2 may lose their jobs next year when Terminal 3 starts international operations since they would not be hired by the new operators of the NAIA Terminal 3, which is a direct competitor of their present employers.

Ed Oredina, PALEA mobilization committee chairman, said the amended and restated concession agreement (ARCA) between the government and the Philippine International Air Terminals Co. Inc. (PIATCO), operator of the Terminal 3, did not categorically state that displaced employees of private firms would be given preference in its (PIATCO’s) hiring, contrary to a claim by Trinidad.

"What the ARCA states is that concessionaire (PIATCO) shall give preference only to qualified employees of the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), a government agency. There is no mention about workers of private companies operating in the two terminals," Oredina said.

The ARCA, he said, even made it clear that the concessionaire has no obligation to hire the displaced government workers. The government workers will just be given preference "based on the reasonable selection criteria which concessionaire shall adopt."

He pointed out that only a few government personnel would be affected as compared to the thousands of workers employed by private firms. Besides PAL, the other private companies expected to be displaced when international airline operations are transferred to Terminal 3 are Dinata Wings Aviation System Corp., MIASCOR Catering Services Corp., MIASCOR Logistics Corp., MacroAsia-Eurest Catering Services Corp. and MacroAsia Menzies Corp.

Oredina said PIATCO would not be hiring the displaced workers that are engaged in ground handling and catering services at Terminals 1 and 2 since it has its own ground handling operator, the Philippine Airport and Ground Services Inc. (PAGS).

"It would be foolish for PIATCO or PAGS to give or match the salary rates of workers now employed in Terminals 1 and 2, many of whom are experienced and skilled," he said.

According to him, these skilled workers would be replaced by new and less experienced workers by the new concessionaire for business reasons. "It will be the very first government-mandated mass retrenchment in the highest level of seasoned and skilled workers in the history of Philippine labor," Oredina said.

Oredina added that even though PIATCO would be hiring some of these workers, "the point is that there will still be monopoly in the new terminal."

Romy Sauler, another PALEA official, said the government-PIATCO contract contradicts the government’s commitment of leveling the playing field since operations at the Terminal 3 will be monopolized by PIATCO and its partners.

Sauler said it is clear under the ARCA that PIATCO shall have exclusive right over international airline operations with the mandated closure of Terminals 1 and 2 as international passenger terminals.