PAL Union Votes to go on Strike

By Paolo Montecillo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 04:20:00 12/09/2010

MANILA, Philippines—A vast majority of the Philippine Airlines (PAL) ground crew had voted in favor of a strike planned by their union in protest of the company’s alleged unfair labor practices.
The PAL Employees’ Association (PALEA) said members voted “decisively” to support a strike vote held from 9 a.m. to midnight on Tuesday.

PAL earlier announced a plan to retrench 2,600 workers to help cut costs. Employees to be affected are in the company’s in-flight catering, reservations airport services and cargo handling. PAL said it would outsource these noncore operations to third-party service providers.

As of 5 p.m. on Wednesday, PALEA president Gerry Rivera said all votes had been counted except those from three small PAL offices.

He declined to reveal the results of the initial tally, noting that the group would wait for all results to come in.

“There are still some results that we haven’t gotten yet, but it won’t affect the outcome anymore,” Rivera said. After the vote, PALEA will have a seven-day cooling-off period before a work stoppage is legally allowed.

Hidden agenda

The final results of the strike vote will be submitted to the Department of Labor and Employment, Rivera said.

“Contractual employment mustbe prohibited if the work is already done by regular workers, or in the words of the Labor Code, if work is necessary and desirable to the business of the company,” said Partido ng Manggagawa chair Renato Magtubo.

PALEA is a member of the Partido ng Manggagawa party-list group.

“The real aim of outsourcing and subcontracting is not efficiency and productivity. Its hidden agenda is to lessen labor costs and compete on the basis of cheap labor,” Magtubo said in a statement.

PAL spokesperson Cielo Villaluna maintained that the strike vote conducted by PALEA had no legal justification.

“We believe PALEA’s complaints about individual bargaining should not have been raised in the Office of the President before they conducted a strike vote,” Villaluna said.

No pressure on gov’t

“But while we believe that PALEA’s action has no legal leg to stand on, we leave it to the President to make a final determination on the legality of Tuesday’s exercise,” she added.

The company welcomed Malacañang’s comments urging PALEA to return to the negotiating table and not push through with a strike, which would paralyze the flag carrier’s operations.
The Aquino administration is brokering talks between the union and management.

Rivera said the union’s strike vote was not meant to pressure the government into coming out with a decision favoring the union.