Strike looms as PAL and union talks fail

By Abigail Kwok
INQUIRER.net, Agence France-Presse
First Posted 09/29/2010

MANILA, Philippines—(UPDATE) Philippine Airlines cabin crew members are set to go on strike after talks with the management over pay and conditions bogged down.

The Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines (FASAP) said it would no longer engage in talks with PAL management, accusing it of repeatedly rejecting union demands.
"We don't see the point in attending the meetings anymore," union president Bob Anduiza told Agence France-Presse. "The management has maintained its hardline position and the mediation proceedings have failed."

PAL assured passengers that a strike could not be called overnight, even as it urged the Department of Labor to take steps to avert the strike.

"PAL is preparing emergency measures in case such a strike will occur," airline spokeswoman Cielo Villaluna said without elaborating.

The 1,600-strong union said work stoppages would begin from the end of next month, warning the walkout would ground all operations of the troubled airline during the peak season ahead of the Christmas holidays.

Anduiza said the decision to push through with the work stoppage came after Tuesday’s meeting of the labor group with PAL at the National Conciliation and Mediation Board of the Department of Labor and Employment ended in a deadlock.
He said PAL refused to address union demands on the mandatory retirement age of flight attendants and to increase the minimum wage for cabin crew members.
The PAL management insisted on paying P8,605 as minimum monthly wage of cabin crew instead of the P12,288 minimum pay mandated by the Department of Labor and Employment, Anduiza said.

“(T)he PAL flight attendants' entry level pay of P8,605 is way, way below the present P12, 288 minimum wage,” he said.

The union also accuses management of refusing to pay women who were on maternity leave while freezing pay for the past three years.
The union this month warned the government of its plan for a strike if PAL did not meet its demands for higher wages and an end to the mandatory retirement age of 45 for cabin crew, which the union said was discriminatory.

“Its proposals to move the retirement age from 40 to 45 on condition of drastic work-rule changes to mix the domestic and international operations will result to retrenchment and mega-profits for PAL,” Anduiza said.

President Benigno Aquino previously stepped in and ordered the labor department to mediate but was unable to settle the row.

Villaluna said the flag carrier negotiated in good faith and was even about to accommodate some of the union demands.

"PAL management was surprised by FASAP's sudden turnaround by announcing their decision to strike," she said.

Anduiza said, “PAL wants to paint itself as ‘reasonable’ but the real motive is to exploit the flight attendants.”

“PAL is adding more conditions to muddle the issue and intends to make more money out of the dispute,” he said.

Anduiza stressed that PAL should change its discriminatory labor practices.

“PAL misses the point. This is not about making money. This dispute is about discrimination,” he said.
“The Philippine Commission on Women has already pronounced that PAL's policy towards its female flight attendants is discriminatory. The Commission on Human Rights chair, Ms Etta Rosales, has also pointed-out that PAL's retirement, pregnancy and maternity provisions for flight attendants are sexist and discriminatory, in violation of their human rights,” Anduiza said.

Villaluna, meanwhile, accused union members of “playing hardball, dismissing outright management's offers without even a second glance."

The planned strike is the latest in a string of labor problems to hit the airline.
Last month, 25 pilots and first officers on PAL's short-haul aircraft suddenly quit for higher paying jobs abroad, forcing the abrupt cancellation of several flights.