PAL management urged: Talk to pilots

By Jhunnex Napallacan, Marian Z. Codilla
Cebu Daily News First Posted 07:33:00 08/02/2010

A business leader in Cebu called for the management of the Philippine Airlines to immediately resolve the shortage on pilots which caused the cancellation of several of their flights.

For starters, they could hold a dialog with the pilots, said businessman Robert Go, former president of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) and former regional governor of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI).

Go said the PAL situation would affect the businessmen badly if it would continue in the coming days.
Go said PAL should talk with the pilots and also hear what they have to say.

“If they want an increase, maybe the management can consider that, though it is not also fair to demand an increase similar to those being offered by the foreign airline companies, which did not spend for training those pilots,” said Go.

If reports were true that the pilots left PAL even if they had contracts and were trained by the company, then the pilots were acting on bad faith, Go said.

But the president of the the Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA), Gerry Rivera, said the PAL management should look into the main reasons why these pilots transferred to international airline companies.

“They wanted to destroy the credibility of the pilots by saying they were pirated. The low pay is not the real issue here. The main issue here is that these pilots like all other PAL employees do not have security of tenure,” Rivera told CEBU DAILY NEWS.

Although the resigned pilots are not members of PALEA, Rivera said they believed they have the same employment problems with the cabin crews and the pilots contracted by PAL.

“The pilots were enticed by better conditions which assure them of security of tenure and good benefits unlike their status as contractual employees in PAL, said Rivera.

“The impromptu resignation by a dozen PAL pilots is the damaging result of management’s drive to make all of its employees' contractuals instead of regular (employees),” Rivera said.

Rivera said before PAL files appropriate charges against some pilots who resigned and did not report for work after submitting their resignation letters, the management should also look into the effects of contractualization.

Rivera was referring to an earlier PAL management statement threatening to file charges against the pilots who still owe PAL the cost of their aviation school training.

“ Why do they have to stick with contractual employment. This is purely mismanagement of PAL,” Rivera said.

The PAL's pilot problems continued to affect PAL flights yesterday.
Domingo de Guzman, PAL information department in Mactan Cebu International Airport office, confirmed the cancellation on Sunday morning of PR 848, which was supposed to leave for Manila at 9:35 a.m.

The incoming flight from Manila at 8:45 a.m., PR 847 was also cancelled.

Two international flights were also canceled yesterday.

PAL's flight to Singapore (PR-501), which was slated to leave Manila at 3:20 p.m., was pushed 30 minutes later to 3:50 p.m. Its turnaround flight (PR-512), scheduled to leave the the city state at 11:35 p.m., was re-set to leave half an hour later at 12:05 a.m. Monday.

Likewise, the flag carrier's Manila-Hong Kong flight (PR-310), which was supposed to leave at 6:40 p.m., took off at 7:20 p.m., while its return flight (PR-311), slated to leave the former British colony at 11:50 p.m. yesterday, was re-scheduled to fly out at 12:20 a.m. Monday.

On Saturday, incoming and outgoing flights- PR 843 and PR 844 were also canceled at 5:35 a.m. and 6:35 a.m. respectively.

De Guzman however said the passengers were accommodated in the next flights of PAL.
But Go said what was important was the scheduling of flights.

He said even if the passengers were allowed to board the next flights, they were already late for their appointments.

“And that is bad for us businessmen because time element is very important especially if we have business meetings’, he said.

Go said he recently experienced a delayed flight in Manila, which caused him to miss a dinner meeting.

He went back to Cebu without achieving his purpose and he spent money and time for nothing.
Go said businessmen usually board PAL planes because they were convenient.
But if the cancellations and delays continue, then these would erode PAL's good image, he added. /With Candeze R. Mongaya