The Manila Times
Thursday, October 31, 1996
By ARIES RUFO AND DIDET DANGUILAN
Reporters
THOUSANDS of passengers were stranded last night after the unionized workers in the Philippine Airlines (PAL) began a nationwide strike.
Members of the PAL Employees' Association (PALEA) caught management by surprise as they made good their threat to stage a strike. Union officials had earlier said the strike would be timed before the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings on Nov. 19-25.
At press time, the PAL public affairs office said its statement on the strike was still being cleared with top management.
The strike came a few hours after President Ramos rebuffed the union's proposal for him to intervene in the labor dispute.
PALEA said it mailed its notice of strike to the DOLE yesterday morning. A strike staged on grounds of union-busting is not covered by cooling-off period, according to a PALEA lawyer.
Not an arbiter
"I should not be a labor arbiter," Ramos said, adding that the labor problem affecting PAL is the responsibility of the Department of Labor and Employment.
Besides, Ramos said there are now several "other" airlines servicing major routes in the country.
The President said he once interfered in a PAL strike more than a year ago because the entire air service then in Cebu had ground to a halt.
At that time, Ramos said he had no choice but to act as arbiter between the workers and the PAL management because "that was the time when there was no other service available."
"Now, we have several airlines and so let the market forces and the DOLE resolve these issues," he told reporters during his weekly news conference.
Mactan started it
PALEA officials also said they had no choice but to go on strike to protest the alleged union-busting activities and unfair labor practices by the Lucio Tan-led PAL management.
Jose Peñas, Palea national secretary, said the strike started in Mactan at exactly 6 last night, and was followed minutes later by the workers in Davao.
Operations at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport ground to a halt at around 7 p.m. as word of the strike in Davao and Mactan reached the main airport, union officials claimed.
2 strikes in '94
In 1994, PALEA staged two strikes.
The strike lasted for nine days from June 16, 1994, after a dead-lock in bargaining negotiations.
On Aug. 10 to 19 of the same year, the union mounted another strike after the management terminated all its officers.
PALEA, which boasts of 8,500 members, counts members from the maintenance, engineering, cargo, catering and in-flight services departments of the PAL.
International flights to San Francisco and Los Angeles in California, which were scheduled to depart early last night were expected to face delay.
Pilots, stewards too
Two other unions in PAL composed of flight stewards and pilots have also committed to join the strike.
Palea officials said they expect the effect of the strike to be felt today.
Peñas said the union finally pushed through with the strike to dramatize the continued union-busting strategics by management, which would affect around 8,000 regular PALEA members.
In a statement, the union explained its action: "We are officially on strike. This is our last resort to defend ourselves from management's onslaught to our members," Peñas said.
At the same time, Peñas apologized to the passengers affected by the sudden strike.
At least 1,000 passengers on international flights to Europe and to Los Angeles and San Francisco were adversely affected.
Job security
PALEA counsel Arno Sanidad said the strike is legal since it was launched to protest management's union-busting tactics.
The issues at hand, Peñas said, are the continued sub-contracting policies of management which, he said, threaten the job security of the workers.
At the maintenance department alone, Peñas said around 3,000 workers will lose their jobs as management plans to hire casuals to perform the jobs of regular employees.
He cited the recent memorandum of agreement signed by the PAL management with the US-based General Electric Co. involving engine overhaul.
The MOA, he said, will severely affect workers in the maintenance department.
Management's subcontracting policies, he added, threatens personnel in all the departments, including the cargo, the engineering and the catering or in-flight services.
Must fight back
"We had to fight back. The management is employing various modes to decimate our personnel," he said.
The PALEA has been anticipating that Ramos would intervene by ordering PAL's management to grant the workers' demands. In fact the group has written the President a letter appealing for intercession.
Earlier in the day, some 500 employees belonging to the three PAL unions started their protest action to pressure the management for a fair CBA.
Employees belonging to PALEA, Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines (FASAP), and Airline Pilots Association of the Philippines (ALPAP) staged a picket at PAL's offices in Greenbelt, Makati, from 12 noon to 2 p.m.
In a press statement, the strikers said they were forced to submit their notice of strike because of management's abusive policies and disregard of their proposed CBA.
No new CBA
The strikers particularly blamed businessman Lucio Tan, PAL Chair, for their plight, saying that since Tan assumed his position, no new CBA has been signed.
Instead of interfering in a purely labor dispute, Ramos said, he would rather allow the contending parties to settle the row among themselves.
The government's policy involving labor disputes, the President said, is for the employers and the employees to first settle their differences among themselves "by virtue of their collective bargaining agreements and their sharing of benefits arising out of the whole enterprise."
The PAL management, he noted, has already offered its employees the opportunity to be-come part-owners of the airline company by subscribing to new PAL shares worth P477 million at P5 per share.
"I think this is part of the solution that DOLE is trying to get the two sides to adopt," Ramos said, citing that with the PAL management's offer, the two parties "are on their way to a solution."
PALEA, however, said the stock-sharing scheme was meant to destroy the union. —With a report from Joel San Juan
