All Sain'ts Day Bullies

The Philippine Star

Saturday, November 2, 1996

Editorial

Their flowers for the dead wilted, they grumbled, they raged, they fell asleep. Thousands of people gave up or were delayed in visiting their departed loved ones' graves yesterday because a bunch of malcontents at the Philippine Airlines had decided to go for maximum mayhem on All Saints' Day. This is the country's flag carrier, and a wildcat strike on any ordinary day would have effectively brought home the message that its workers were unhappy and could bring the company trouble. But no, the PAL Employees’ Association not only wanted to go for the airline management's jugular; like grade school bullies, they had to prove to the public how powerful they could be. What better time to wreak havoc than the weekend of All Saints' Day?

If the workers were trying to get public sympathy for their cause, they did it the wrong way. Consider a woman who has set her mind on enjoying a rare long weekend, a reunion with relatives outside the stifling metropolis and the annual visit to her departed kin's graves. When the wildcat strike cuts her weekend to just one day and strands her at the airport for over 24 hours, she won't feel much sympathy for any striker complaining of low pay, the lack of "menstrual leave" or abusive employers. Especially if she herself feels abused and underpaid, but unfortunately is not in a business where going on strike would ruin the public's day. She would instead want to commit murder and burn down every PAL plane and flight counter.

The only winner in the PALEA's temper tantrum are PAL's competitors, who must be wishing fervently that the strike will last indefinitely. They don't have to wish too hard; chances are the PALEA will do all it can to ruin the leaders' summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum later this month. These are Filipinos who, if they can't get what they want, are ready to bring the entire nation down with them. Of course PAL's management will get the blame. But in this kind of fiasco, everyone gets tarred, from President Ramos and Lucio Tan all the way down to the cargo handlers.

Don't you wish you had an entire nation as a bargaining chip for your job? Since PALEA has become notorious for wildcat strikes, the government should have long ago prepared measures to minimize the damage each time the workers decide to act up. This is a problem that involves national interest; why can't the government intervene? When a bully gets his butt whipped, everyone applauds. The malicious can only suspect that the government has kept its hands off this problem because it wants PAL and Lucio Tan to self-destruct. In this test of wills, unfortunately, the public always comes out the loser