PALEA gets backing of other labor unions

CEBU, Philippines - The officials of the Philippine Air Lines Employees Association now have the support of the other labor unions in Cebu City to help them fight the move of their management to contractualize their workers.

PALEA president Gerardo Rivera said the officials of the National Federation of Labor, Cebu Labor Coalition, Partido ng Manggagawa and Trade Union Congress of the Philippines have agreed to support them in their cause.

Rivera said PALEA itself is an affiliate member of the TUCP.PALEA is composed of about 3,700 members who are ground personnel of PAL.

He said a total of 49 representatives from the various groups that are affiliated with the different labor unions in Cebu yesterday attended a discussion of the issue at the Center for Development (Cendet) along Osmeña Boulevard.

Rivera said the company’s plan to dismiss the more than 2,600 of the 3,700 regular rank-and-file employees of PAL, who are all PALEA members, is a violation of the law and the Collective Bargaining Agreement between PAL and PALEA.

He said their company has about 7,200 employees, 400 of them are pilots who are members of the Airline Pilots Association, 1,600 are stewards and stewardesses who belong to the Flight Attendant and Steward Association of the Philippines (FASAP).

It was learned that PAL wanted to outsource the workers for some departments, particularly the airport services and catering departments, as one way to solve the company losses.

It was reported that PAL is setting aside P2 billion to P2.5 billion to compensate the displaced workers.

The planned retrenchment was originally set last May 31, but was suspended after the Department of Labor and Employment assumed jurisdiction over the labor dispute.

Rivera said they also plan to ask the help of President Noynoy Aquino, the religious sector and the other labor groups.“The termination of the regular employees is not necessitated by the company’s financial situation and it also violates Article 248 of the Labor Code,” Rivera said.

It prompted the PALEA members to conduct meetings with local and foreign alliances in the labor movement with the intention to call for labor solidarity in the fight against contractual employment. (THE FREEMAN)