Aquino asked to intervene in PAL labor dispute

By Lira Dalangin-Fernandez
INQUIRER.net First Posted 13:26:00 11/01/2010

MANILA, Philippines—The labor dispute in the country’s prime flag carrier, Philippine Airlines (PAL), is now for President Benigno Aquino III to solve, a lawmaker said on Monday.

This developed as several members of the House of Representatives pushed anew for an inquiry into the impending layoff at PAL, and for the passage of legislation to prohibit labor-only contracting and to strengthen the security of tenure of the country’s workers.

“PAL services are basic utility services and they affect national interest, the PAL labor dispute cannot be treated like an ordinary labor problem,” said Gabriela party-list Representative Luz Ilagan, in calling on the President to get his hands on the case.

She said that in such a situation, the company’s profits should come “secondary to national interest.”

Ilagan and another party-list congresswoman, Arlene “Kaka” Bag-ao, echoed the sentiments of some labor groups in condemning the decision of Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz to allow PAL to lay-off 2,600 of its regular employees belonging to the PAL Employees Association (Palea).

Ilagan said Malacanang should now step into the labor row to avert a crisis in employment.

“The DoLE should not have allowed this. It sends a chilling effect on workers, who cannot enjoy security of tenure. Congress should review existing labor laws and amend or pass new ones with greater protection for the workforce, or else, we will lose them to jobs abroad,” she said in a text message.

Ilagan is one of the authors of a resolution to investigate the alleged discrimination of women in the workplace, particularly in PAL, which sets 40 as the age of retirement.
Of the 1,600 flight attendants of PAL, about two-thirds are women, the lawmaker said.
Northern Samar Representative Emil Ong, chairman of the House labor committee, said he will immediately convene his committee to look into the lay-offs in PAL when sessions resume on November 8.

In a phone interview, Ong said the committee will investigate how the DoLE came up with the decision allowing the lay-offs, noting the big number of employees that will lose their regular employment.

Bag-ao said Baldoz’s decision is a “death knell, a funeral toll for regular employment.”

“It opens the floodgates to intensified contractualization across industries, a situation that has been vigorously opposed by labor organizations in the country.”

She said the labor committee in the House should immediately look into the matter to see the contractualization of employment in public utilities and holders of government franchise, and come up with legislation that will regulate, if not prohibit, contractualization of regular positions.

Coming amid a separate labor dispute involving pilots and flight attendants, Bag-ao said the impending termination of the union members shows that PAL is “assaulting workers’ rights virtually at all levels.”

“This is a dark day not only for PAL employees, but for all Filipino workers,” she added.

At least seven bills and resolutions are pending in the committee on labor in the House seeking inquiry into the PAL labor row, including Bag-ao’s House Resolution 181 on the collective bargaining agreement between PAL management and employees.
Anakpawis party-list Representative Rafael Mariano said DoLE’s decision sets a “dangerous precedent.”
“The Aquino government practically gave a go-signal to employers to implement massive contractualization of labor, indiscriminately violate of workers’ rights, and disregard the Philippine Labor Code,” he said in a statement.
Instead of protecting the workers’ interests, the department took the side of the management of PAL and disregarded the employees’ security in the workplace, he said.