PALEA told to wait for Palace review

By JC BELLO RUIZ
December 3, 2010, 7:17pm
The Manila Bulletin

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang appealed on Friday to the employee's union of the flagcarrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) to wait for the Palace's review of the decision of the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) on the termination of the services of 2,600 employees before making any hasty judgment on the issue.

Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte said this when asked about the Philippine Airlines Employees Association’s (PALEA) reported threat to stage protest actions next week to question PAL management’s move to terminate the 2,600 employees as part of its outsourcing plans.
“This demand is being done within the system. Let’s wait for the decision before making any prejudgment on the issue,” Valte advised the employees.

PAL management said the planned strike vote of its workers' union despite the pending appeal before the Office of the President is an “arm-twisting” tactic meant to pressure the President to decide in their favor.

“PALEA was the one who decided to bring the spin off issue on appeal to President (Benigno Simeon) Aquino III. Union officers and lawyers should – out of respect and legal courtesy – give the President a free hand to decide on the matter instead of issuing strike threats. To say that they will stage a strike if the President upholds the spin-off is tantamount to ‘blackmail’,” PAL said in a statement

PALEA legal counsel Marlon Manuel said they will urge President Aquino to junk the resolution made by DoLE that said the PAL move is legal.

PALEA filed last Nov. 5 a strike notice with the in the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) following the issuance of Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz's order last Oct. 29 allowing PAL to proceed with its plan to spin off its in-flight catering, airport services, and call-center operations and then contract out the jobs in these sectors.

Presidential Legal Counsel Eduardo de Mesa earlier said that the Palace is determined to reach a “win-win” solution in the row of the PAL management and its ground workers’ union, in line with the decision of President Aquino to broker between PAL’s management and the PAL Employees Association (PALEA) which is threatening to go on strike over the issue of job contractualization.
“We are trying to reach a ‘win-win’ solution, so we hope since they have appealed the case to the Office of the President (OP), we will now try to mediate and if not we will have to decide,” De Mesa said in a previous interview.

The Palace, he said, had conducted separate dialogues with the PALEA and the PAL's management.
De Mesa said they also plan to meet both parties in one occasion.

“We will be meeting both of them. There are on going meetings and there will be meetings until we finally reach a solution,” he said.