NLRC junks Palea raps against PAL

Business Mirror
October 5, 2011

The National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) has dismissed the charges of unfair labor practice filed by the PAL Employees Association (Palea) against Philippine Airlines (PAL) for its alleged refusal to start collective-bargaining negotiations with the union early this year.

In a statement, PAL said it received NLRC’s 14-page resolution on September 29. The commission’s Special Second Division ruled that the flag carrier was not guilty of unfair labor practice as Palea failed to prove by substantial evidence its allegation that the airline violated its duty to bargain collectively.

The NLRC, the labor-relations arm of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), upheld PAL’s stand that the issue on outsourcing should be resolved first before it proceeds to collective bargaining.

PAL submitted to NLRC on March 28 its collective-bargaining agreement (CBA) counterproposal that only included rank-and-file workers to be left behind after the outsourcing plan. Employees to be separated as a result of the airline’s restructuring program were excluded.

NLRC Presiding Commissioner Raul T. Aquino said the outsourcing issue must be resolved apart from the CBA dispute and may not, therefore, be considered a stumbling block to the continuation or completion of negotiations. The commission said Palea’s insistence to include the outsourcing issue in the labor dispute and its “uncompromising attitude” caused the breakdown of negotiations.

“The submission of PAL’s counterproposal on March 28, 2011, is a positive indication of its intention to bargain collectively, and if there was any delay in the negotiation it was due to the union’s hard-line position to include the issue on ‘outsourcing/spin-off’ in the negotiation notwithstanding the favorable rulings of the DOLE and the Office of the President. At any rate, we find that the labor dispute on outsourcing is beyond the realm of CBA negotiations as it has its own legal course to take,” the commission’s order stated.

Citing Article 252 of the Labor Code, the resolution added: “PAL’s non-acceptance and disagreement with Palea’s position did not amount to refusal to bargain as the duty to bargain does not compel any party to just agree on a proposal of the other party.”

On the 10-year CBA moratorium, NLRC said the same is inconsequential to the charge of refusal to
bargain. The moratorium, it stressed, was mutually agreed upon by both PAL and the union and the issue was declared valid by the Supreme Court.

Bargaining negotiations for a new CBA were suspended for 10 years after PAL underwent rehabilitation due to the financial crisis that hit the region and the global aviation industry in 1998.

The case was certified for compulsory arbitration on April 1 this year by Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz after PAL’s ground-crew union filed a notice of strike with the National Conciliation and Mediation for alleged unfair labor practices being committed by PAL by refusing to bargain.

On October 1 a total of 2,400 workers from PAL’s ground-handling, catering and call-center reservation units were separated from service after the Office of the President rejected the union’s motion for reconsideration over the airline’s outsourcing scheme.

(With Sara Susanne D. Fabunan)