DoLE starts hearings on PAL dispute

By Philip Tubeza
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 09/14/2010

MANILA, Philippines—In a last-ditch attempt to prevent a strike at Philippine Airlines, labor officials will hold marathon mediation hearings starting Tuesday to reconcile PAL with its flight attendants’ union.

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz Monday said the mediation sessions between PAL management and the Flight Attendants’ and Stewards’ Association of the Philippines (FASAP) would start at 9 a.m. at the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB).

Among the issues to be discussed are the retirement age and the supposed “sexist” and “discriminatory” policies covering flight attendants.

“We will try to find possible areas of agreement,” Baldoz said in an interview. “There will be offers and counter-offers. We will try to find common ground.”

Last week, FASAP filed a notice of strike at the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) after its talks with management, which lasted three years, bogged down.
Under DoLE rules, there is still a 30-day “cooling-off” period and Baldoz said she remained confident that a deal could still be reached.

Previous talks between PAL and FASAP collapsed after management refused to change its mandatory retirement age of 40 for flight attendants. The union branded this and other policies on maternity and pregnancy leaves as “unfair” and “sexist.”

FASAP denounced as “gender discrimination” the airline’s policy of denying a flight attendant from receiving any salary, allowance or travel benefits while she is pregnant or on maternity leave.
Negotiations between PAL and the union have dragged on since their last collective bargaining agreement (CBA) expired in 2007.

PAL said FASAP’s notice of strike was “ill-timed as it would scare away tourists and cause further damage to the flag carrier’s fragile finances.”

In a statement, FASAP said the issue was not just about money but “about equality.”
“Among all other PAL employees, it is only the flight attendants who are placed on leave without pay when they get pregnant. Worse, the entire period is deducted from the flight attendants years of service,” it said.

It noted that “in the past three years, only the flight attendants have not been granted pay increases.”