PAL makes arrangements to avert flight disruptions

By Paolo Montecillo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 22:58:00 12/10/2010

MANILA, Philippines—Flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) said it was ready for any possible interruption in its flights to be caused by a labor strike being planned by more than half of its employees.

At a briefing on Friday, PAL president Jaime Bautista stressed that the employees’ plan to go on strike had no legal basis.

In the event that its employees do go on strike, Bautista said PAL has made arrangements with several service providers that could give workers to temporarily replace the employees who would join the picket line.

“We want to assure our passengers that all of our flights will operate normally and within the published schedules,” Bautista told reporters in a press conference held at PAL’s Pasay City headquarters.

In case there are disruptions in flights caused by a strike, even if done illegally, Bautista said PAL had contingency programs in place that would ensure that passengers would be able to get to their destinations.

He said Palea members, which make up half of PAL’s 7,000 employees, were mostly ground crew.
“These employees are mostly in our ground crew, catering and check-in staff. They are not part of the core business of PAL,” Bautista said.

“For instance, we are already in talks with two major in-flight caterers operating in the country and they have agreed to help us if Palea goes on strike,” he added.

In its own statement, Palea said that disrupting flights and causing inconvenience to the riding public would be an unwanted but necessary consequence of the union’s struggle to keep their jobs.

“We understand that a strike at PAL may inconvenience the public. But we also believe that the vast majority of the public are workers and their families who will benefit from Palea’s fight for job security and labor rights,” Palea president Gerry Rivera said.