PAL Strike Talks Deadlocked

Philippine Daily Inquirer

Friday, November 1, 1996

Return-to-work order defied

By ROCKY NAZARENO and ARMAND NOCUM

A STRIKE by ground crews of Philippine Airlines continued for a second day yesterday despite a return-to-work order, forcing the cancellation of 34 more domestic and international flights and stranding thousands of passengers.

Talks brokered by the labor department between the PAL Employees’ Association (Palea) and management appeared to have bogged down last night as the strikers stood their ground.

PAL President and Chief Operating Officer Jose Antonio Garcia earlier issued a return-to-work order, enjoining the strikers to go back to work not later than noon today or face dismissal.

Labor Undersecretary Cresenciano Trajano said it was the "prerogative of management" to fire the workers if they refused to return to work.

But Palea said it has not received any official order.

"We haven't received anything official (about a return-to-work order)," said Palea official Eddie Banes. "We're keeping the pickets up."

Palea members went on strike late Wednesday over alleged union-busting activities by management and a deadlock in collective bargaining negotiations.

The union includes mechanics, engineers, caterers, ticket counter workers and cargo handlers.

Palea spokesman Bong Penas said about 2,000 of the union's 8,700 members were involved in the strike.

Earlier yesterday, Executive Secretary Ruben Torres said in an interview on radio station DZMM that "before the end of the day, it is possible they may have resolved the dispute."

He said President Ramos had instructed labor department officials mediating the talks between the strikers and management "not to let up on this thing till it is finished."

Talks stand still

However, the negotiations initiated by Trajano between Palea and management appeared to have been at a stand-still as of last night.

The government was meeting with management representatives to persuade them to negotiate on workers' pay demands and with union officials to urge them to end the pickets, said Trajano.

Arno Sanidad, a lawyer for the strikers, said the dispute had gone beyond wage rises and encompassed alleged plans by PAL management to contract out some services.

Sanidad described the contracting out as a form of union-busting,

"This is going to take long," Palea lawyer Theodore Te said of the talks last night.

The negotiations started at noon and were still going on at 8:30 p.m.

"We are just implementing the law and they should be sanctioned for violating the labor department order," said PAL lawyer Luis Ermitano, referring to the return-to-work order.

He said PAL is already losing P9 million daily due to the strike.

"I did not know that there is a new labor secretary," said Sanidad, referring to PAL president Garcia issuing the return-to-work order.

He pointed out that only Quisumbing can issue such orders.

Palea scored a victory of sorts when members of the Airline Pilots Association of the Philippines (Alpap) and the Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of PAL (Fasap) appeared to have sympathized with them.

"They (Alpap and Fasap members) respect our position," said Banes. "They do not even attempt to cross our picket lines."

Out of it

But the Airline Pilots Association of the Philippines said it was "not on strike yet" and its members were ready to fly their aircraft.

However, they had been denied "free ingress" to the flight dispatch office where flight assignments are handed out, the group said in a statement.

It said pilots were avoiding confrontations with the strikers in the interest of their personal safety.

PAL Vice President for Airport Services Manuel Panlilio earlier yesterday claimed there had been "tremendous improvement" in PAL operations since the strike started Wednesday night.

"We're inching back to normalcy," he said. “There may be delays but what's important is that our passengers arrive or depart."

He did admit that operations at the cargo and baggage handling section were "very slow."

PAL said in a statement that thousands of arriving passengers were stranded at airline terminals because workers refused to unload baggage.

It said workers barricaded entrances and exits at company premises, blocked the transfer of food for departing planes and cut off power at the cargo office.

Flights frozen

The airline canceled a total of 34 flights – seven international and 27 domestic flights – early yesterday. Eight international and 13 domestic flights were canceled late Wednesday.

Two PAL flights arriving from San Francisco and Los Angeles and six other international flights were unaffected, PAL officials said.

About 4,500 people were stranded as of yesterday morning.

Terminal operations assistant Noel Navarrosa at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport said other foreign airlines suffered departure and arrival delays because most use PAL ground crews who went on strike.

He said PAL managers, supervisors and other non-striking staff were handling ground operations for PAL and other airlines, some of them operating airplane tow trucks.

On Oct. 4, Palea filed a strike notice with the Department of Labor and Employment.

Two other PAL unions representing pilots and flight attendants earlier filed strike notices.

Labor Secretary Leonardo Quisumbing assumed jurisdiction over Palea's strike notice on Oct. 18 and issued an order banning the workers from striking and management from locking out workers.

Quisumbing cited national interest as reason for the strike ban, which could disrupt preparations for next month's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in the Philippines.

Union leaders, however, said the law allows an immediate strike over a separate charge of union-busting against management.

Palea's Penas said one of their grievances is the hiring of contractual workers to do union work, thus undermining the union.

PAL has tried to reduce its financial losses by creating spin-off companies to replace regular workers in catering, maintenance, cargo and engine overhaul operations.

In a radio interview, PAL Executive Vice President Manolo Aquino said he was saddened by the strike because it came a day before the company promised to present a new collective bargaining proposal. He did not specify what the proposal contained.

Workers' demands

The union's demands amounted to P3.2 billion over a two-year period, the airline said.

PAL, which has lost P10.7 billion over the past 10 years, has offered P477 million worth of stocks to its employees.

It posted a net loss of P1.75 billion in the fiscal year ended March 31, about 2 percent more than the previous year.

The company has just emerged from a protracted corporate battle for ownership in which tycoon Lucio Tan gained majority control from the government.

The reception area of the arrival section was jampacked with people waiting for their relatives and friends yesterday.

At the Manila Domestic Airport, only a PAL flight to Kalibo, Aklan was able to depart yesterday afternoon.

Other local domestic carriers – such as Air Philippines, Grand Air and Cebu Pacific – had a field day in servicing passengers bumped off by the cancellation of PAL's domestic flights.

Grand Air added at least four flights to Cebu and Davao to its regular schedule. Air Philippines was rushing the approval of permits to be able to add more flights.

Most of the international airlines also augmented their staff in Manila after regional airline officials arrived yesterday morning for crisis management meetings.

PAL said in a statement that the strike action grounded regional flights servicing Fukuoka, Taipei, Jakarta, Saigon, Kansai, Kaoshiung and Xiamen.

Six other flights to Hong Kong, Narita, Dubai and Jeddah, Seoul and Kuala Lumpur were operating as of 5 a.m. yesterday, it added.

Arriving passengers who came by PAL and other international airlines virtually camped out at the NAIA arrival area, waiting for more than five hours to claim their baggage.

"I don't even know if my relatives are still out there," said nurse Marie Manalang of Porac, Pampanga who had arrived from Dharan, Saudi Arabia. She arrived at 1 p.m. but had not been able to claim any of her three-piece luggage at 4:30 p.m. With reports from Lynda Jumilla, AP, ATP, Reuter