By Paolo Montecillo, Philip Tubeza
Agence France-Presse, Philippine Daily Inquirer First Posted 12:58:00 09/09/2010
MANILA, Philippines—(UPDATE 2) The Philippine Airlines’ (PAL) 1,600 flight attendants on Thursday formally advised the government they would go on strike at the end of October, saying the move would ground all flights by the loss-making flag carrier.
The cabin crew union said it had filed a strike notice with the labor department, which by law has 30 days to try to find a compromise between the airline and employees to prevent a shutdown.
"Once we go on strike, no flight will take off," said Bob Anduiza, president of the Flight Attendants' and Stewards' Association of the Philippines (FASAP).
"This will ground PAL's entire operations," he told a news conference.
In a statement issued Thursday, PAL assured the riding public of continued and unhampered service despite a notice of strike filed by its cabin crew union.
"PAL's operations remain normal and all flights are operating as scheduled. There is no immediate work stoppage," PAL spokesperson Cielo Villaluna stressed.
She explained that the notice of strike filed by FASAP commences a legal process by which the two parties, with guidance from the labor department, would find ways of striking a balance between what the union wants and what management can afford and is prepared to give.
At a briefing on Thursday, Anduiza said this union decision has been reached due to management’s refusal to budge from its policy of retiring employees as young as 40 years old.
PAL’s discriminatory preference of keeping flight attendants young was rooted in an outdated mentality that a plane’s crew was mere eye-candy, rather than trained safety professionals, he said.
The actual "series of strikes" will happen next month or early November, according to Anduiza.
He said his group has not finalized the actual date of the strike but would make an announcement two weeks before the actual work stoppage to forewarn the riding public.
He warned that PAL could lose P40 million up to P60 million a day from the strike.
Anduiza has accused PAL of intentionally not raising flight attendants’ salaries for the last three years—a tactic, he said, meant to pressure the union into signing another collective bargaining agreement that includes a 40-year-old retirement age.
“We have exhausted the negotiating process, and after countless mediation hearings, PAL remains unmoved and refuses to negotiate in good faith. All our pleas fell on deaf ears,” Anduiza said in a statement.
The cabin staff are seeking a raise that would put their pay on par with that offered by foreign carriers. They are also demanding paid maternity leave and an end to a company policy that forces female attendants to retire at the age of 40.
Villaluna said the union's plan to strike is ill-timed as it would scare away tourists and cause further damage to the flag carrier’s fragile finances.
“We are saddened by the union’s decision, but we recognize their right to file a notice of strike,” Villaluna said. She added the union’s move is untimely in the wake of thousands of Hong Kong and Chinese tourists canceling their forward bookings in the aftermath of the Rizal Park hostage tragedy. “A strike threat doesn’t help in efforts to lure back tourists to the country.”
She added that management is willing to sit down again with FASAP leaders to discuss and settle any pending issues in the 2007-2010 collective bargaining agreement.
Villaluna said FASAP’s claims that they are overworked and underpaid are without factual basis. “PAL's cabin attendants receive an average gross monthly salary ranging from P30,000 to 80,000. They also enjoy enviable rest periods.”
She also refuted accusations of age and gender discrimination. “The early retirement age is part of the negotiated CBA FASAP leaders signed on two separate dates. They complain of alleged inequity of early retirement provisions when in fact the older batch of FASAP members, including the union leaders themselves, have been receiving and enjoying financial benefits in exchange for the younger retirement age of their colleagues,” Villaluna stressed.
On the claim that PAL discourages pregnancy among cabin attendants, Villaluna said there were at least 65 cabin attendants who went on maternity leave last year. “All of them received maternity benefits in accordance with the Labor Code and the CBA. PAL even advanced P30,000 in SSS benefits before they gave birth,” she said.
There was no immediate comment from the labor department.
But earlier Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz has said that in case of a strike, she will “assume jurisdiction” over the PAL labor dispute, which will force the airline’s management and the labor union to sit down for another round of negotiations.
The planned strike is the latest in a string of labor problems to hit the national flag-carrier. Last month, 25 pilots and first officers of PAL's short-haul aircraft suddenly quit for higher-paying jobs abroad, forcing the abrupt cancellation of several flights.
No comments:
Post a Comment