Philippine Daily Inquirer
August 19, 2011
By Doris C. Dumlao
Flag carrier Philippine Airlines is seeking a dialogue with its union leaders for a “smooth” and “orderly” implementation of a spin-off program recently upheld by Malacañang, even as its workers prepare to mount another protest action this Monday against the restructuring plan.
The Lucio Tan-led airline on Thursday said it would invite leaders of the PAL Employees Association (Palea) to discuss the implementation of the program after the company got a Palace imprimatur on its plan to spin off its catering, ground handling and call center reservation units.
But Palea said its lawyers were preparing to raise the matter before the Court of Appeals, and that it would continue opposing Malacañang’s decision which the group said would lead to the layoff of 2,600 employees and reduce them to contractual workers under third-party service providers.
Town hall-style meeting
In a statement, PAL spokesperson Cielo Villaluna said the management also planned to hold town hall-style meetings in the affected departments to discuss the mechanics of the spin-off.
Primers will be distributed to guide workers on how to avail themselves of retirement benefits and gratuity pay, which will be processed on a “first come, first served” basis, the company said.
PAL maintained that Malacañang’s decision further validated the management’s plan to fold up non-core units and transfer their functions to third-party service providers.
No date has been set yet for the implementation, but PAL is allocating some P2.5 billion in severance benefits for the affected workers.
Under an October 2010 order by Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz, they will receive separation pay equivalent to 125 percent of their monthly salary for every year of service, P50,000 in cash as gratuity pay and other non-cash benefits. Malacañang earlier granted an additional P50,000 as gratuity pay.
The company claimed that several workers of the affected units had already expressed interest in the package as the three independent service providers await the smooth transition of operations.
The spin-off plan is purportedly meant to stabilize PAL’s finances amid the lingering effects of the global recession.
PAL lost $312 million during its 2008 and 2009 fiscal years ending March. It posted a net profit of $72.5 million in 2010 but swung back to a negative bottom line with $10.6 million in net losses for the first quarter of the current fiscal year.
Gerry Rivera, president of Palea and vice chair of Partido ng Manggagawa (PM), noted that “with the Office of the President’s decision permitting PAL to retrench thousands of workers despite billions in profit, President Aquino has unveiled his fire-all-you-can policy.”
‘’This overturns the provisions of the Labor Code and jurisprudence of the courts that serious financial losses are a necessary ground for retrenchment,” Rivera said in a statement.
Palea, PM and the Church-Labor Conference have scheduled a motorcade on Aug. 22 to protest the Palace decision and press their campaign against contractualization. The motorcade will start at the corner of Buendia and Roxas Boulevard and proceed to Ayala Avenue in Makati City.
‘Trying-hard copycat’
“P-Noy’s (Mr. Aquino’s) employment policy is a second-rate, trying-hard copycat of American industrial relations where giant money-making corporations can fire at will. But he should beware since the result of flexible employment relations in the US was not economic progress but financial crisis,” Rivera said.
‘’The unequal distribution of wealth is at the root of the global financial crash of 2008 and even the present threat of a double-dip recession in the US,” the labor leader added.
Palea said the Palace did not consider the group’s argument that outsourcing was not necessary for the flag carrier to survive. “Since PAL is awash in profits even without outsourcing, then there is no reason for it to retrench employees,” Rivera said
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