PAL starts dialogues; union goes to CA

Philippine Daily Inquirer
August 27, 2011

The first of a series of town hall meetings and the service of notices of separation to more than 2,300 workers affected by the outsourcing program of Philippine Airlines proceeded smoothly despite last ditch efforts by its ground workers’ union to question the airline’s spin off/outsourcing program, the airline said Friday.

The airline said over 700 workers or almost 30 percent of all the personnel in its catering, ground-handling and call center reservations units in Manila and Cebu have received their separation letters.

The PAL Employees Association (Palea) said it had filed a petition with the Court of Appeals to stop the spinoff program, but the PAL counsel Clara de Castro said such petition does not bar PAL management from going ahead with the airline’s spinoff/outsourcing program.

“PAL is proceeding with the spin off/outsourcing on the basis of legal and valid orders from the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) and the Office of the President which are considered ‘final and executory.’ And under the Rules of Procedure, the mere filing of such petition does not automatically bar implementation of said lawful orders. Moreover, the mere filing with the CA does not necessarily mean that the appellate court would give due course to Palea’s petition,” De Castro said.

Malacañang on August 11 affirmed the Department of Labor’s decision to uphold the spinoff/outsourcing program as a valid and legal exercise of management prerogative. The DoLE and Palace orders became the basis for PAL to kick off the spinoff program.