CEBU, Philippines – The Partido ng Manggagawa has agreed with Malacanang's initial view that the problems besetting the Philippine Airlines is more than the pilots' decision to seek better paying jobs elsewhere.
PM-Cebu spokesperson Dennis Derige, in a statement, said that at the heart of the continuing labor disputes in PAL are job security and the regression in labor standards in the flag carrier.
Derige, whose group has been involved with the PAL employees struggle for job security since the 1998 strike believes that the pilots' mass resignations and the company's unresolved disputes with PALEA and FASAP may again lead to a full-blown strike if the company refuses to heed the employees' demands and the government fail to carry out proper intervention.
Proper government intervention, according to Derige, can be done by invoking not just the 'national interest' but also the 'social justice' provision of the Constitution declaring a State policy recognizing the primacy of labor over capital.
The Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) has scheduled a conciliation meeting with the management and the labor department on the planned spinoff of PAL's ground handling operations to other Tan companies on August 12.
The plan, according to Derige, will result to the mass layoff of some 2,600 ground crew personnel as they shift from regular to contractual work arrangements with the spinoff companies.
Derige further said that the Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines (FASAP) is also struggling against the lowering of their retirement age to 40 and several other issues affecting their job security.
PAL earlier rejected the resignation of more than two dozen pilots, saying they must respect existing contracts with the company or face civil, administrative and criminal charges.
"PAL doesn't want to get in the way of its pilots' dream of landing better paying jobs abroad, but they have contractual obligations with the company and a moral responsibility to thousands of passengers," PAL said in a statement.
PAL spokesman Jonathan Gesmundo said while some pilots left, "PAL has some 500 remaining pilots. At least one-third of the 500 are available at any given time." He said the airline is adjusting the schedules of the pilots to fill the vacancies.
He said PAL is preparing to sue the pilots who resigned, saying they violated "their promise to pay for their training by serving PAL for an agreed period" and Philippine Overseas Employment Administration rules.
"They could be considered overseas Filipino workers, so they should give advance notice of at least six months" before they resign so their replacement could be given necessary training, Gesmundo said.
In the last few days, PAL was forced to cancel several regional and domestic flights after 13 captains and 12 first officers flying its Airbus A319s and A320s resigned from the flag carrier.
PAL said the pilots left without giving PAL ample time to train replacements. (THE FREEMAN)