PAL cabin crews plan strike if talks fail

By Nancy C. Carvajal
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 20:16:00 08/10/2010

MANILA, Philippines—Philippine Airlines cabin crew members plan to go on strike in two or three weeks if talks scheduled with management on Wednesday fail to resolve outstanding issues, the worker’s leaders said Tuesday.

“We will go on strike if new talks fail, but we will make the announcement of its date, even if by doing so we will lose the element of surprise,'' Bob Anduiza, president of the Flight Attendants' and Stewards Association, said at a press conference in Quezon City.

Anduiza added, “We will make the announcement because we do not want to cripple business and we also know that trips are planned in advance; we do not want to disrupt them.''
Anduiza said there are only two issues in the suspended collective bargaining agreement the management should address to bring them back to work.

“We are not talking about economic provisions. What we want the management to address is to revoke the early compulsory retirement for female flight crews and payment of their pregnancy leaves,'' Anduiza said.

Female flight crew members hired after November 2000 are all required to retire by the age at 40.
In the same briefing, Anduiza accused the PAL management of gender discrimination and having a “beer house mentality'' by insisting on compulsory early retirement for female crew members.
“They have a beer-house mentality that their flight attendants should be all young,'' he said.
Alice Robles, 46, an international stewardess who joined the press briefing, also hit management's insistence on a younger set of flight attendants.

Robles, although exempted from the new policy for having entered PAL in 1989, said she supports the cabin crews’ cause because of management’s discriminatory inclinations.

“My energy on the job is the same as the first time I joined PAL, and besides, I undergo yearly training and passed the tests required by the aviation board for flight crews,'' Robles said.
In the same briefing, Akbayan partylist Rep. Walden Bello announced he has filed a draft resolution in the House calling for an inquiry into the issues concerning PAL.

“There should be in immediate investigation on alleged bad faith of PAL management and violation of several labor laws based on their existing collective bargaining agreement,'' Bello said.
Former Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros, who was also present at the news briefing, expressed outrage over PAL's alleged gender discrimination and treatment of women workers as sex objects.
“PAL is marketing them based on their aesthetic qualities rather than their skills and capabilities to provide flight safety and comfort,'' Hontiveros said.

Anduiza said his group will oppose any government takeover of the airline's management, because only the management stood to benefit from it.

He added that employees were hopeful Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz will require not only the employees but also management to follow the rule of law.

“Her power to order us to go back to work in case of a strike is the same power she wields to tell the management to follow the labor laws,'' Anduiza said.