Philippine Daily Inquirer
Saturday, December 5, 1998
By Dona Pazzibugan
AT LEAST 3,000 employees of Philippine Airlines' 8,500 workforce will be laid off under the rehabilitation plan prepared by the PAL management, a militant labor group said yesterday.
Aside from the mass layoff, the management allegedly also plans to reduce the number of PAL routes in order to keep the debt-ridden flag carrier flying.
"President Estrada and (PAL majority owner) Lucio Tan were lying through their teeth when they said the retrenchments in PAL will stop. Now, a minimum of 3,000 workers are in the line of fire,” the Kilusang Mayo Uno said.
Both the KMU and the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) expressed opposition to the PAL rehabilitation plan due to be submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday.
The PAL workforce had been cut down from 13,000 in June to 8,500—the biggest layoff since the start of the Asian economic crisis in 1997—because of mounting debts and a crippling pilots’ strike.
KMU and Bayan, in a joint statement, disclosed PAL’s 25-point rehabilitation plan, which they said included fleet reduction, disposal of assets, route restructuring, layoff of personnel, and outsourcing of airline functions.
The plan also calls for the "reeducation and re-assignment of PAL personnel," they said.
They suggested that the government consider a takeover of PAL.
“The government should save itself the trouble of looking for a buyer for PAL. It should infuse money into the national flag carrier,” the militant groups said.
“If the government is serious and sincere in its intentions to revive PAL, not only for the sake of the riding public but also of the PAL workers, then it should take over PAL instead of turning it over to Cathay, Northwest or any other foreign company who only seeks greater profit."
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