PAL workers unfazed, vow to still strike

By Philip Tubeza, Norman Bordadora
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:13:00 04/03/2011

MANILA, Philippines—The ground crew union of Philippine Airlines (PAL) on Saturday threatened to defy Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz and proceed with their planned strike anytime.

“We are ready to defy the order of Labor Secretary Baldoz any time we deem it necessary to go on strike in order to prevent layoffs and contractualization at PAL,” PAL Employees Association (Palea) president Gerry Rivera said in a statement.

PAL’s management, however, said they were ready for any action by Palea.

Baldoz sent the PAL labor case to the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) for compulsory arbitration on Friday, effectively preventing Palea from going on strike.

Rivera, however, belittled the order, saying that it had not stopped a strike at PAL but merely postponed it to a date that PAL and the government would not know in advance.

Palea cannot go on strike now that the labor dispute is up for compulsory mediation, Malacañang said yesterday.

“They can’t go on strike while the National Conciliation and Mediation Board is hearing their case,” Deputy Presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said over government-run radio station dzRB.

PAL said on Saturday that it would respect and abide by the order of the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) but was ready to deal with Palea’s repeated threats of a work stoppage.

“PAL will follow the DoLE order but any illegal action of the PAL Employees Association to disrupt airline operations will not be treated lightly,” PAL president and COO Jaime Bautista said.

He said PAL was only informed late Friday night of Baldoz’s certification order remanding PAL’s labor dispute to the NLRC for compulsory arbitration.

The airline management had yet to receive an official copy of the order, he said.

Bautista said that despite Palea’s pre-strike rally Friday which snarled traffic near the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1 and 2 complexes, all PAL flights ran on schedule.

There were no cancellations and 100 percent of PAL’s daily average of 160 inbound and outbound domestic and international flights were able to operate, he said.