PALEA officially asks PNoy to step into PAL labor dispute

Philippine Airlines’ ground crew labor union has formally appealed to President Benigno Aquino III to intervene to resolve the worsening labor dispute in the flag carrier. In an exclusive report, 24Oras’ Sherrie Ann Torres reported the Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) submitted Friday afternoon a petition for the President to intervene in the labor row. Also, PALEA made plans with other militant unions to launch widespread protests if the negotiations break down. Union representatives hand delivered the petition for intervention to the office of Executive Secretary Pacquito Ochoa Jr in Malacañang. "We are hoping that he (Aquino) will reverse the decision of [Labor] Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz, Bong Palad, PALEA national secretary said. "President Aquino has already made an announcement regarding our case…that he will intervene and that he will bridge the gap" he added. The Executive Secretary was not able to meet with union representatives on Friday, but Malacañang immediately scheduled a PALEA meeting with the President for Monday morning. The President, now in Yokohama, Japan to meet with the 20 other leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum this week, also said that he is going to help resolve the labor dispute. “We're like the bridge, we'd like to be a bridge," Aquino said. “So far, the signs are very promising," he said, though noted that he still had to review how far both sides have reached and what issues they have already discussed.
Widespread protests set After they trooped to Malacañang to submit their formal appeal to meet face-to-face with the President, PALEA officials met with leaders of 16 other labor organizations that make up the Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP). The groups met to plan a widespread protest as part of strategies to take should negotiations between the PAL and PALEA break down. The protest will involve the BMP and other militant groups and labor unions in Metro Manila. BMP, a broad alliance of labor unions operating in many companies in the National Capital Region, aims to “organize the Filipino working class into class-conscious and independent political force." “Ang isang pinag-uusapan ngayon ay parang isang joint statement o panawagan ng lahat ng 11 na …mga unyon, (na) magtutulong-tulong sila para sumama sa isang kilos protesta," Leody de Guzman, president of Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino, said. (One of the things we are now discussing is a joint statement, a call for all 11 unions [of BMP] to help each other and join together for one protest action.) On Oct. 29, Secretary Baldoz affirmed its March 2010 decision to allow the retrenchment of 2,600 PAL employees, a move that will cut PAL’s workforce to 4,000. In her decision, Baldoz, denied the motion for reconsideration filed by the PALEA and affirmed the previous order by then Acting Labor secretary Romeo Lagman. In its June 15, 2010 decision, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said the closure of PAL’s “inflight catering operations, airport services operations, and call center operations and the consequent severance from employment of all affected employees...as well as the contracting out of these operations to the named service providers, are based on lawful ground." Lagman's decision, also said that PAL’s outsourcing strategy “was a valid exercise of a managerial prerogative and as such valid and lawful in all respects." PALEA filed a notice of strike last week, which the PAL management has asked the DOLE to junk. The National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB), the main agency under the labor department tasked to resolve labor disputes, will again convene both the PALEA and the PAL in a conciliation mediation meeting on Nov. 18. — DM/LBG, GMANews.TV