The Philippine Daily Inquirer
Sunday, November 3, 1996
By ARMAND NOCUM AND ROCKY NAZARENO
THE THREE-DAY strike at Philippine Airlines ended yesterday with the signing of a three-point agreement between management and the Philippine Airlines Employees' Association (Palea).
While many scheduled flights will resume today, an official of the pilots' association said he did not expect operations to normalize fully until after three more days because of the backlog of flights and other problems like unrepaired aircraft.
Management and Palea leaders agreed to forge a new collective bargaining agreement by Nov. 21.
The walkout, sparked by wage and job security demands of ground employees, stranded thousands of international and domestic plane passengers. Palea members include cargo handlers, maintenance crew and ticket counter personnel pilots, flight attendants and other cabin crew did not join the strike which began Oct. 30.
A PAL statement last night said it expected to resume normal operations this afternoon.
It said that during the 69-hour strike, up to 3 p.m. yesterday, the airline was able to operate 120 or about 33 percent of its international and domestic flights while cancelling 243 others.
At least 50 international flights and more than 100 domestic flights had been cancelled.
To push through with some of the flights, the airline maintained a reduced service, using management staff and hiring outsiders.
The striking union had charged that management failed to submit its counter-proposal to Palea's proposed CBA package, which it submitted on Oct. 2, 1995. The old CBA expired in February.
In two other major points of agreement, PAL management promised "not to contract out" jobs now being held by regular employees and not to take retaliatory action against the 9,000 Palea officers and members.
Union members, for their part, agreed to lift their pickets immediately and to return to work not later than noon today.
Airline spokesmen said some strikers returned to work before the agreement was announced.
Alexander Barrientos, Palea president, said the pickets had been lifted by the time the agreement was signed at 4:30 p.m. yesterday.
Backlog
"Many PAL planes were left unrepaired (during the strike), and there is a tremendous backlog of PAL flights, both local and international. There is also the problem of putting back the original flight schedules," said Sotico Lloren of the Airline Pilots Association of the Philippines (Alpap).
Signing the agreement in behalf of PAL were Antonio Ocampo, PAL Corporate Counsel and Secretary; and Henry So Uy, Executive Assistant to the PAL Chair and Executive Officer.
Those who signed for Palea were Barrientos, President; Gerardo Rivera, Vice President; Jose Peňas III, Secretary; and Socorro Remulla, Treasurer.
The signing was done in the presence of Labor Secretary Leonardo Quisumbing at the Department of Labor and Employment building in Intramuros, Manila.
It culminated more than 20 hours of marathon talks between management and union representatives. It began at 7 p.m. Friday.
Negotiations were held at the Century Park Sheraton in Manila.
Lloren, whose group acted as an observer in the talks, said the two sides met on their own initiative, unaided by labor officials.
Palea earlier accused labor officials of messing up the negotiations held on Thursday.
"It is the agreement of both parties to sit down and resolve irritants that brought about the strike," said Louie Ermitaňo, another lawyer for PAL.
But he said there was still a "long way to go to flesh out the CBA."
In yesterday's agreement, PAL management promised to give Palea by Tuesday its "complete counter-proposal to Palea's proposed CBA package."
The two sides also agreed that 10 days from today, they would set the time, date and venue for the new CBA negotiations and "exert their best efforts (to) conclude a mutually acceptable agreement within 10 days from Nov. I1."
Issues not yet over
Union organizers said the issues that sparked the walkout could not be considered solved until a new CBA had been signed and their other demands granted.
"The threat of strike remains. This (agreement) is just a dribble," said Roberto Anduiza, president of the Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines.
Although the flight attendants did not formally join the walkout, their officials supported the strikers and, like the pilots, sat as observers in the negotiations with management.
In a press conference called after the signing of the agreement, Ocampo, in behalf of the airline, apologized to the thousands of stranded passengers.
"We offer sincere apologies to the riding public who were inconvenienced by the strike," he said.
Earlier negotiations with the strikers bogged down because PAL management reportedly refused to discuss their demands and just wanted them to return to work.
PAL lost P100 million
Manuel Panlilio, PAL Vice President for Airport Services, said the strike caused the airline to lose about P100 million because of flight cancellations, re-booking of passengers and providing food and hotel accommodations to stranded passengers.
Other losses resulted from the grounding of most of the airline's planes.
"Any plane on the ground is non-productive and therefore incurs losses," he said.
Panlilio added that those who went on strike had asked PAL management to give them up to noontime today to resume work.
"They said they have not slept. We're giving them the chance to recuperate," he said. "It is such a relief that all this unrest is over."
Absorbed by other airlines
He also said that passenger backlog in PAL's international schedule was low because it was able to endorse stranded passengers to other airlines with flight routes parallel to PAL's.
"For example, China Airlines and Asiana have flights to Taipei. That is why, we were able to farm out the passengers to them," he said.
The strike, which came just before the three-day weekend occasioned by All Souls' Day and All Saints' Day, inconvenienced both international and domestic travelers.
"If your government wants to entice us to invest in your country, they must make sure there is industrial peace. Not like this," said Singaporean businessman Lee Chok Chan, who had to wait for two hours before his flight could depart from Seoul and waited for three more hours at the Naia arrival area before he could get his luggage.
Stranded OCW
Joselito Rennuego, an overseas contract worker who had to stay at the Naia for two days waiting for the strike to blow over, expressed relief that he could finally take his connecting flight to Cebu.
"At least, I can now join my family," he said.
Lawyer Rodolfo Buendia, Naia deputy customs collector for passenger services, said it was "inconsiderate" of Palea to time the strike with an important holiday for Filipinos.
"Why should they do it in time for All Saints' Day?" he asked. "They must not hold the country hostage."
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