Monday, September 21, 1998
OPINION
ASIA’S first airline is Asia's first airline to go. And the regional crisis had nothing to do with it. What a shame. A flag without a carrier, the emblem of a sun without a sunrise.
The sunset of Philippine Airlines is the death of one man's impossible dream. Lucio Tan will have a hard time living it down. His first failure will probably be his last attempt to show that guts alone with plenty of cash to back it up are not enough.
A government takeover of PAL? It's the last thing government needs and the last thing an airline wants. The benighted souls suggesting it do not seem to know that what ran PAL to the ground was the corporate culture that made it no different from a government bureau where efficiency is sacrificed for political expediency. As soon as people were hired they were untouchable, for as soon as they were hired they thought they owned the company.
But if they felt that way they should at least have treated it like a priceless possession, investing time and thoughtfulness, discipline and professionalism to keep it running smoothly. What happened to PAL is the culmination of generations of union leadership with an attitude.
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Not that everyone who is a union member knows what their leaders are doing or, if they do, approves. Could this be why the union heads do not want a referendum as endorsed by President Estrada so that the true sentiments of the airline's 9,000 employees will not be expressed?
The interagency task force under Finance Secretary Ed Espiritu met recently to discuss how such a referendum might be conducted, since the one stumbling block left to be overcome in the rehabilitation program packaged for PAL was nothing more than an assurance of industrial peace and rank-and-file cooperation with management.
The balloting was to be secret. The form and format were drawn up. Everything in the name of democratic choice was ready.
Then the unions said no.
Their leaders did not want their followers to exercise their right of choice. These are the very people who have been paid by their members' union dues and fees to look after their welfare.
"Ayaw nila, e, " Lucio Tan told reporters immediately after the news was announced that he was shutting down the airline. Ayaw nila. No to three board seats. No to 60,000 shares of stock (at P5 per before the announcement) for each employee on the active payroll. No to suspension of the CBA for 10 years. No to the following in place of the CBA: medical benefits, one of the most extensive in terms of coverage, to continue; salary increases to depend on merit and performance, but definitely no salary deductions.
The Chairman wanted the minimum provisions of the labor code to take the place of a CBA. The association of flight stewards and attendants wanted the standards of the Federal Aviation Regulation Board of the United States which is very strict on the number of flying hours
Without a union, pilots fly 80 hours every month. With a union, they fly 40 hours. PAL's 200 pilots (flying 19 planes) are working without a CBA since they left their ALPAP union to return to work. In other words, they're earning more money now — until Sept. 23, that is.
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The same ALPAP pilots who have stuck to their guns, refusing the chairman's offer to come back when a deadline was set last June are accusing PAL management of making the wrong decision to reflect — buy more planes, fly more routes — as if it was not an airline's business to fly more people to more places!
How can a chief succeed within a tribe such as PAL's?
The wonder of it all is how Lucio Tan, who has sunk in P15 billion of his own money and presided over the loss of P8.8 billion over the last three months, has lasted this long. He should have thrown in the towel earlier and expect to keep his money, make more profits elsewhere, and live a happier life.
His refusal to be cowed by a handful of people with a puzzling agenda was seen as weakness. Well, now they've finally pushed him to the wall and all he can tell his executives is to get ready to pay his employees P2 billion in separation pay.
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