PAL union considers strike; compromise still possible

By Paolo Montecillo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 20:01:00 04/23/2010

MANILA, Philippines—Employees of flag carrier Philippine Airlines have raised the possibility of holding a strike to stop the company’s management from pushing through with a plan to cut close to 3,000 jobs to help lower costs.

PAL Employees Association (PALEA) president Gerardo Rivera said in an interview the union recently met with management over the airline’s plan to outsource non-core services to lower expenses and help the company keep up with the competition.

“PAL management still wants to push through with the spin-off and outsourcing, but we made it clear to them that we are opposing this completely,” Rivera said.

While the union understood many of the airline’s concerns about cutting costs and turning the company into a leaner organization, Rivera said cutting jobs should only be a last resort.

“We saw a lot of their points, but we believe there are still other areas where the airline can cut costs,” he said, claiming that outsourcing was not yet necessary.

The Lucio Tan-led carrier earlier announced that it would ask third-party service providers to handle non-core services like call-centers, catering and airport services.

The outsourcing, which is set to take effect on June 1, will affect up to 3,000 of the airline’s 7,500 employees. Front-liners like pilots and flight attendants will be retained, the company said. PAL president and chief operating officer Jaime Bautista earlier said the move would help
the company save as much as P1.5 billion a year.

The leaner organization that PAL will become as a result of the retrenchments will also help the company attract much-needed “white knight” investors willing to pour cash into the organization, which is seen as vital to the airline’s survival.

PALEA said it would continue to negotiate with PAL in hopes that a compromise could save the workers’ jobs.

“We are willing to talk to them… all we can do is hope for the best,” Rivera said. But he added that pushing through with a labor strike remained as “one of the options” for the group.

PALEA filed a notice of strike with the Labor department last January. The group also urged the government to bail PAL out of its current financial situation.
PAL officials could not be reached for comment.