Crucial hearing today on PAL row

October 5, 2010
Philip C. Tubeza
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Philippine Airlines (PAL) and its flight attendants' union will hold a “make-or-break” mediation hearing today at the Department of Labor and Employment, the union said yesterday.

“The ball is now in PAL's hands. [The] last-ditch effort for conciliation... is PAL's chance to come clean and address the discrimination of its female flight attendants,” Bob Anduiza, president of the Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines (FASAP), said in a statement.
The labor dispute, he said “is not about money. It is about the discrimination.” He urged the national carrier to use today's occasion to drop its “discriminatory” policies.

PAL spokesperson Cielo Villaluna said the airline will attend the hearing with a “standing offer” of P105 million in a maternity benefits and a change in retirement age from 40 to 45.

She said FASAP was maintaining “a hard-line position since Day One of the negotiations” and of “arm-twisting” tactics. “FASAP is the unreasonable party. It has refused to agree or accept anything less than what it wants,” she added.

“To protect the riding public from FASAP's arm-twisting tactics, PAL appreciates the labor department's decision to assume jurisdiction over the dispute should Tuesday's meeting end in a deadlopck once more,” Villaluna said.