Wednesday, 03 November 2010 00:00
BY CRIS G. ODRONIA REPORTER
MalacaÑang on Tuesday said that it will not intervene in the Labor department’s recent decision that allowed the mass layoff of some 2,600 workers of the country‘s flag-carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL). Workers to be affected by the wholesale dismissal staged a rally at the Mendiola Bridge in Manila near the Palace also on Tuesday and called on the government to reverse the department’s ruling.
They will be laid off to make way for outsourcing of their jobs to other firms that will absorb them.
During a briefing in Malacañang, deputy spokesman Abigail Valte advised the affected workers to avail of remedies available to them under the law.
“I understand also the sentiments of the Palea [PAL Employees’ Association] employees but having said that, there are legal ways of redress. From what I understand, they can file a motion for reconsideration and then, eventually, they can appeal the decision of the Department of Labor and Employment,” she said.
Valte added that the Labor department’s decision was based on the law.
Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz upheld a previous order of her predecessor, Romeo Lagman, allowing PAL to outsource three non-core business units, a move that will result in the mass layoff of PAL workers.
But Baldoz also assured that the affected PAL employees will not be “jobless” because outsourcing companies will take them in.
Hundreds of ground workers of PAL took to the streets to urge President Benigno Aquino 3rd to stop the flag-carrier from outsourcing their jobs to other companies.
Riot police blocked a road leading to Malacañang when 500 Palea members marched toward President Aquino’s office to call on him to reverse the ruling that the Labor department handed down over the weekend.
“We stand to lose our jobs, and many of us have invested our lives [in] the airline,” Palea President Gerry Rivera told Agence France-Presse.
“The President can always reverse the unlawful decision, because the Labor department is an extension of his office,” he said.
The union still can seek redress by, for one, filing a motion for reconsideration or bringing the case to court, a move its leaders are now looking into.
Respect for ruling
PAL President Jaime Bautista called on the ground staff to respect the ruling and warned them against walking out and disrupting operations.
He told local television that the airline planned to implement its outsourcing plan for ground crew in consultation with the union to ensure a smooth transition.
“There is process that we will have to follow and we will have to submit and tender notices, and we want them [ground crew] to accept this,” Bautista said.
The Labor department decision said that PAL must guarantee that staff who are dismissed are given a fair severance pay and they should also be absorbed by the outsourcing companies.
But Rivera told Agence France-Presse that the union planned to sue PAL and continue its street protests.
The employees, he said, are concerned about their salaries and benefits if they are forced to leave PAL.
The protesters later ate a meal of dried fish in front of Malacañang, symbolizing the poverty they said they would face if PAL went ahead with its plans.
The dispute with the ground staff, one of three restive unions within the airline, is the latest in a string of setbacks for PAL.
Last month, the government stopped a planned strike by cabin crew who were demanding higher wages and a lifting of a company policy that forces female attendants to retire when they reach 40.
The Labor department is set to rule on that case this month after it ordered the two sides to submit to arbitration.
In August, 25 pilots and first officers on PAL’s short-haul aircraft suddenly resigned for higher paying jobs abroad, forcing the abrupt cancellation of several flights.
WITH REPORT FROM AFP
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