PAL Resumes Operations

Today

Sunday, November 3, 1996

By RICHARD ARBOLEDA

Reporter

STRIKING employees and the management of the Philippine Airlines (PAL) forged yesterday an agreement that paved the way for the full resumption of the operations of the airline.

In a memorandum of agreement with management, the striking members of the 9,000-strong PAL Employees’ Association (Palea) agreed to return to work at 12 noon today as management acceded to their demands to put into writing a promise to ensure job security of the employees and revive negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement.

The workers also agreed to stop picketing and normalize operations of the national flag carrier.

"This is just a partial victory for us because we will have to sit down and talk with management regarding our CBA," Gerry Rivera, Palea Vice President, said.

The agreement was forged after a 20-hour conciliation meeting between representatives of Palea and PAL management at the Century Park Sheraton Hotel.

Sources said, however, that the meeting was a "purely internal affair" between the PAL employees and management with officials from the Department of Labor and Employment having no participation whatsoever in the talks.

Palea counsel Arno Sanidad has exposed that the power struggling by the labor undersecretaries, in the absence of Labor Secretary Leonardo Quisumbing, showed that "nowhere in the efforts of either group is there a genuine and sincere professional desire and commitment to address and resolve the substantive grievances by Palea against PAL."

Aside from giving in to the demands of the workers, PAL management backtracked on its earlier position to impose sanctions against the strikers. 

Antonio Ocampo, PAL Corporate Secretary, said that the resumption of work and the normalization of flights was the main issue that had to be settled first.

"What we are after here really is the riding public. We bent over backwards at this time to make' sure that we don't cause any more inconvenience to the riding public," Ocampo said.

Palea was assured by the management that the hiring of contractual workers would be stopped.