Philippine Daily Inquirer
Thursday, September 24, 1998
Opinion
THE EDITORIALS and a few columnists in the major dailies appear one in lamenting how the pig-headed and unreasonable labor unions have bought Asia's first airline to its knees. Contrary to what writers like Emil Jurado and Ninez Cacho-Olivares would have the reading public believe, the members of the PAL unions are not the foaming-at-the-mouth radical unionists they are made up to be. They are just like any ether employee trying to earn an honest living.
I know, for I am one of them. My wife and I are both cabin attendants with Philippine Airlines and between the two of us, we have served the company for over 23 years. We met in PAL, and are now raising three kids. PAL has given us so much and for this we are thankful. But all these things we are enjoying were not given to us on a silver platter. We had to work hard for them. And work hard we did.
Jet lag and extreme fatigue were part of the regimen. Crossing time zones over a dozen times a month distorted sleep patterns, being inside a pressurized metal capsule 30,000 feet above the ground for hours and hours were part of the job. Being away from our families on Christmas, birthdays and other special occasions were taken as matters of fact should our schedules dictate so. It was working in this stressful and high-risk environment that made me realize how important working with clear-cut work conditions and duty limitations was.
Our flight work conditions and compensation are laid out in the Collective Bargaining Agreement drafted by both PAL management and our union, the Flight Attendant and Stewards Association of the Philippines (Fasap). This was hammered out after months of negotiations and sought to strike a balance between what was needed to make the company economically stable while providing appropriate compensation for our labors.
The spirit of the agreement was exemplified by the more-work-more-pay no-work-no-pay scheme. Instead of battling for a substantial increase in our basic salary, we agreed to the work productivity compensation proposed by management. But more important were the provisions regulating our work hours and rest periods after flights. Years of jet lag, missed sleep and fatigue were taking a toll on our health. But as long as our schedules conformed to the CBA, we had no reason to complain.
The PAL management's offer of 60,000 shares per employee in exchange for the 10-year suspension of the CBA came as a shock. Upon clarification, we learned that the proposal was not just for the suspension of CBA negotiations for the next 10 years, or for a no-strike clause but the abrogation of the work rules and productivity compensation scheme currently in place. With only the basic salary to remain, the productivity pay and other allowances (which account for approximately 50 percent of our take-home pay) would be scrapped. Rest provisions currently bordering on unhealthy levels, would be drastically cut. The work conditions would be set at management's discretion. Pardon the mistrust, but PAL management has not exactly been the champion of workers rights.
Time and time again, our union has signified its willingness to discuss specific economic and work provisions which would help PAL in these critical times. We are willing to make sacrifices to make PAL survive.
PAL management's position on the negotiating table and the swiftness of the decision to close the company lead us to suspect that the decision to shut PAL down had already been made long before. It's proposal for the abrogation of CBAs is nothing but an attempt to make the unions a scapegoat for the closure.
While the Alpap and Palea strikes have worsened PAL's woes, responsibility for the staggering $2.1-billion debt rests on management's hands. They were at the helm when the ship started to sink. One might even suspect management deliberately rammed the iceberg. Charge of corporate plunder has been bannered in major dailies.
My wife and I dread the prospect of joining the ranks of the unemployed. With a mortgage on the house, bills to pay and kids to feed, the situation is nothing short of a personal disaster. And I know this sentiment is shared by thousands of my co-workers
But, we are facing our fears and we stand by our union in rejecting PAL management's proposal for us to surrender our rights and our dignity for 60,000 pieces of silver. To ask the employees to give up their CBA or face a company shutdown is blackmail in its crudest form.
We call upon the Estrada administration to take drastic steps in resolving this issue. We reiterate our union's willingness to sacrifice certain provisions for PAL's survival. We continue to pray that a solution can be found. But should the forces of darkness succeed in closing Philippine Airlines, then God's will be done.
As our nation celebrates the Centennial, we link arms with the Filipino workers in our common quest for humane working conditions and a just society.
Mabuhay ang mga manggagawa ng PAL!—EARL C. PALACIOS, Mary Home Phase II, Molino), Bacoor, Cavite
No comments:
Post a Comment