Still no deal between PAL, union

Manila Standard Today : News
September 29,2010

Talks between the Philippine Airlines’ management and flight attendants over a new deal hit an impasse after both sides refused to budge from their positions during a marathon meeting at the Labor department.

The Lucio Tan-owned airline maintained its offer of an P80-million one-time payment to settle the remaining economic issues in the proposed 2005-2010 collective bargaining agreement but the flight attendants did not accept the offer and insisted on its demand for an P180-million package.
At Labor officials scheduled an Oct. 4 meeting to have both sides try and break the impasse.
PAL said it could only offer as much as P80 million to the attendants’ union because of its dire financial condition.

The flight stewards and attendants association rejected PAL’s offer, claiming that it does not address the main issues such as retirement benefits and discriminatory policies.

“PAL insists on its hardline position  on the unreasonable retirement  age. PAL  does not even intend to correct its violations  of the minimum wage law,” Fasap vice president Andy Ortega said.
PAL’s flight attendants receive a monthly gross salary ranging from P30,000 to P80,000 each.
The flight stewards said they were willing to forgo their financial demand if only PAL management would agree to their position to increase the retirement age from 45 to 55.

“Whatever PAL is offering is being made contingent to PAL’s unreasonable positions. {PAL should not muddle the picture. It should address  the discrimination on retirement and grant fair increases’” Ortega said.

The flag carrier emphasized that it lost almost $320 million (over P15 billion) in the last two fiscal years due to the global economic crisis exacerbated by the spike in fuel prices, the downgrade of the Philippines’ aviation safety rating to Category 2 by the US Federal Aviation Administration, and the European blacklist of all Philippine carriers.

Fasap also complained about the several CBA violations of the PAL with its worrkers’ reduction plan.
The reduction scheme takes away “food on the flight attendants’ table, making them work more for less pay,” Fsap said.

Fasap also denounced as “gender discrimination” the airline’s policy to bar attendants, who are eight months pregnant, from serving as flight crew.

PAL should correct these discriminatory policies and not take advantage of the crisis to demand more concessions, Fasap said. Vito Barcelo