ECOP slams PALEA

The Philippine Star
October 8, 2011
By Elisa Osorio

MANILA, Philippines - The “wildcat” strike staged by the Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) that resulted in the cancellation of flights is “anarchy at its worst,” the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) said yesterday.

The situation was further compounded because PALEA continued with their strike in the midst of typhoon “Pedring” last week.

The strike forced Philippine Airlines (PAL) to cancel 172 domestic and international flights and in the process stranded 14,000 passengers.

In a statement, ECOP president Edgardo Lacson said that in addition to the cancelled flights, there were some reports of sabotage staged by the strikers in damaging or disabled pushback tractors, tow tugs and deck loaders at the airport.

“And what was their reason for this wildcat strike? This was the management decision of PAL to outsource some of its job requirements to outsourcing companies to cut costs and become more competitive, which every other competing airline has been doing for so long,” Lacson said.

“It did not matter to the strikers if every rule of law was violated so long as they succeeded in completely paralyzing the operations of PAL. It also did not matter to them if their mindless acts of hate against PAL were highly prejudicial to the public interest and to the nation’s image as a whole,” he added.

Lacson said the employees had no legal basis to mount a strike since outsourcing was a management decision.

ECOP said the affected employees in the outsourcing program would only be transferred to their new employment with PAL while paying them severance package amounting to P2.5 billion.

Lacson noted PALEA elevated the case before the Court of Appeals, but instead of waiting for the decision, PALEA decided to take the law into its own hands.

“These strikers are the type of workers which any employer and, for that matter, the labor market, do not need,” Lacson said. PALEA members led by Gerry Rivera urged the Tourism Congress (TC) to convince PAL to reopen negotiations to resolve the labor dispute. Rivera said PAL management’s refusal to negotiate forced them to go on work stoppage. – With Mayen Jaymalin, Sandy Araneta