Palea workers’ union voting points to likely strike

Wednesday, 08 December 2010 00:00
The Manila Times
BY DARWIN G. AMOJELAR SENIOR REPORTER

THE Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (Palea) on Tuesday said that many of its members voted “yes” for a planned strike against the spin-off of the Lucio Tan-led airline’s three non-core businesses.
“The partial results of the Palea strike vote show a large turnout and an overwhelming yes vote,” Palea added in a statement.

Some 3,700 members of the employees’ association started voting on whether to go on strike at 9 a.m. of Tuesday in different work sites of Philippine Airlines (PAL) nationwide.

The group said that the balloting closed at 5 p.m. in many PAL offices and work places in 14 provincial cities and call-center reservations at the PNB Building on Macapagal Avenue in Pasay City (Metro Manila).

In the call-center reservations, Palea added, there was an 84-percent turnout, with 86 percent voting yes. In the provincial cities, some 80 percent of the members voted and 80 percent of them voted yes.

“Not all the outlying stations [in the cities] have transmitted the results,” it said.

The union, however, said that it was waiting for the votes of a majority of Palea members, with balloting to end by midnight of Tuesday at Terminal 2 of the Manila International Airport, the international cargo terminal, the in-flight catering department and the Mactan airport in Cebu.

Still, Palea added that it was expecting the trend in favor of a strike to continue.

The union reported that the voting was orderly and peaceful.

The Palea leadership will decide on its next move after tallying of all votes.

It is protesting the plan of flag-carrier Philippine Airlines to spin off part of its operations, a move that will result in the airline letting go some 3,500 of its 7,500 workforce.

Illegal move
In a separate statement, Cielo Villaluna, PAL spokesman, said that the flag-carrier wants to finally resolve the issue of whether Palea has legal grounds to conduct a strike vote, much less engage in a work stoppage.

“PAL appreciates President [Benigno] Aquino 3rd’s concern and desire to put closure to the PAL-Palea dispute. Like the President, PAL believes that the public deserves a quick resolution to this issue so as not to further cause anxiety to thousands of passengers who have already firmed up their holiday travel plans,” she added.

Villaluna said that PAL lawyers are questioning the legality and propriety of the strike vote.

“It’s not a question of how many ‘yes’ or ‘no’ votes were cast by Palea members; the issue is whether there is a legal justification for such referendum. PAL believes there is none,” she added.

Villaluna said that it’s business as usual at the flag-carrier despite the ongoing strike vote.

She assured PAL passengers, especially those flying in and out of the country during the coming holidays, that PAL is exerting all efforts to ensure that there will be no flight disruptions.

Villaluna urged PAL passengers to come to the airport early—at least two hours before the intended departure time—to avoid long queues and other inconveniences.