Philippine Airlines workers stage protests against Labor Department
Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) | 02.07.2010 14:30 | Repression | Social Struggles | Workers' Movements | World
June 28, 2010
The Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) held another rally this afternoon at the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in protest at the decision of Acting Labor Secretary Romeo Lagman that declared the planned PAL mass layoff to be a “valid exercise of management prerogative.” PALEA also filed a motion for reconsideration of the Lagman order in time for the deadline today.
Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) vice-chairperson, insisted that “There are strong grounds to seek the reversal of Lagman’s decision.” PALEA assails the order as a “midnight decision that is erroneous on both substantive and procedural grounds.”
Some 500 PAL employees trooped to the DOLE around 3:30 pm today together with scores of supporters from PM. The protesters lambasted corruption at the DOLE as they carried placards that read “Kung walang corrupt sa DOLE, Walang manggagawang maghihirap.”
This is the second rally at the DOLE to protest the midnight decision. Last June 22, some 300 PALEA members held the first protest. Then on June 23 a delegation of PAL employees went to the Times St., QC residence of President-elect Aquino to deliver a petition asking him to intervene in the PAL dispute, cleanse the DOLE of corrupt officials and reform the policy regarding contractualization.
Rivera explained that “Contrary to the finding of Lagman, there is no spin-off of company departments in this case. No subsidiary corporation was formed by PAL and not one of its divisions was transformed into an independent company. What is involved here is outsourcing of functions wherein regular rank-and-file employees and union members will be terminated and the functions that they are performing will be farmed out to service providers.”
“Worse, the terminated regular employees themselves are envisioned to be the employees of the service providers. Upon their termination, they will just be transferred to a different employer but will be performing the same tasks that they had been performing as regular employees of PAL,” he added.
Rivera argued that “Further, contracting out, whether labor-only contracting or legitimate job contracting, is absolutely prohibited by the PAL-PALAEA collective bargaining agreement.”
“Finally there are no sufficient bases for retrenchment. Retrenchment is a measure of last resort which should only be undertaken in case of serious and imminent losses. A close review of the financial statements and disclosures of PAL reveals that its business condition is improving and not deteriorating, thereby negating the necessity for retrenchment,” Rivera said.
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PAL union ask Aquino for intervention in dispute
June 23, 2010
Some 500 members of the Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) trooped to the Times St. residence of President-elect Noynoy Aquino this morning and submitted a letter asking him to intervene in the brewing labor dispute at Philippine Airlines. The PAL employees rode in motorcycles and vehicles that were festooned with yellow ribbons.
“The PAL workers’ petition is in pursuit of Noynoy’s campaign platform of good governance and the people’s hope for social reform,” asserted Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and Partido ng Manggagawa (PM - Worker's Party) vice-chairperson.
In the letter addressed to President-elect Aquino, the PAL union asked him three things: presidential intervention in the PAL-PALEA dispute, cleansing of corrupt officials in the Department of Labor and Employment, and reform of the policy regarding contractualization.
In a decision dated June 15, 2010, Acting Labor Secretary Romeo Lagman found the planned mass layoff of some 3,000 Philippine Airlines (PAL) employees to be a “valid exercise of management prerogative.” PALEA argues that the order is a “midnight decision that is faulty on both substantive and procedural grounds.”
“We insist that the incoming Labor Secretary be given the right to study and decide on the labor dispute according to procedure and on a just basis. We believe that the PAL-PALEA dispute deserves Noynoy’s intervention given that it is imbued with national interest. More than half of the PAL workforce will be retrenched and the airline industry in no doubt of strategic value to the economy,” stated Rivera.
The PALEA petition submitted to President-elect Noynoy included endorsements from labor groups such as PM, Alliance of Progressive Labor, the unions at PLDT and Fortune Tobacco and from scores of leaders of various people’s organizations, including former General Danny Lim.
In the PALEA letter, the union contends that “Acting Sec. Lagman’s order was released with indecent haste given that the case has not been submitted for resolution and mediation proceedings are still ongoing. Moreover the decision failed to consider the PAL-PALEA collective bargaining agreement’s provision prohibiting the outsourcing of jobs that are being performed by regular employees.”
Yesterday hundreds of PALEA members held a motorcade from its office in Tambo, Paranaque and a rally at the Department of Labor and Employment office in Intramuros to protest the order. In the rally Rivera announced that PALEA will file a motion for reconsideration and “exhaust all the means provided by law to protect the job security of PAL employees.”
__________________________
PAL union rally at DOLE vs. “midnight decision”
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
The Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) held a protest action this morning at the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to coincide with the filing of a motion for reconsideration against the decision penned by Acting Labor Secretary Romeo Lagman that found the planned PAL mass layoff to be a “valid exercise of management prerogative.” PALEA lambasted the order as a “midnight decision that is faulty on both substantive and procedural grounds.”
More than 500 PAL employees participated in the protest that started as a motorcade from the PALEA office in Tambo, Paranaque City. A delegation of supporters from the Partido ng Manggagawa (PM), PLDT union, Fortune Tobacco union and Alliance of Progressive Labor joined the rally at DOLE.
PALEA also demanded that the new Labor Secretary to be appointed by President-elect Noynoy Aquino be allowed to decide on the dispute. Tomorrow a delegation of PALEA leaders will troop to the Times St., QC residence of President-elect Aquino to deliver a petition. PALEA will ask President-elect Aquino to intervene in the PAL dispute, cleanse the DOLE of corrupt officials and reform the policy regarding contractualization.
“The worst of crimes are indeed committed in the darkness of midnight. Lagman’s order is a midnight decision that was released with indecent haste given that the case has not been submitted for resolution and mediation proceedings are still ongoing. We insist that the incoming Labor Secretary be given the right to study and decide on the PAL-PALEA dispute according to procedure and on a just basis,” argued Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and PM vice-chairperson.
Rivera added that “Lagman’s June 15 order is faulty on both substantial and procedural grounds. It failed to consider the PAL-PALEA collective bargaining agreement’s provision prohibiting the outsourcing of jobs that are being performed by regular employees. Further the order came only four working days after PALEA filed a motion for the production of certain documents such as PAL’s latest financial statement and its outsourcing contracts with service providers. No action has yet been taken on the motion.”
PM chairperson Renato Magtubo slammed the decision for legitimizing mass contractualization and revealing the anti-labor legacy of the outgoing Gloria Arroyo government. Magtubo added that “This is the ugly face of contractualization in PAL. Regular PAL employees will become contractual workers in service providers who will be performing exactly the same job for less wages, fewer benefits and no security of tenure. It has happened before when PAL’s maintenance and engineering department was spunoff to Lufthansa Technik and MacroAsia, shell companies whose real owner is still Lucio Tan.”
__________________________
PAL union to rally vs. DOLE’s “midnight decision”
June 21, 2010
The Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) will hold a rally tomorrow at the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to coincide with the filing of a motion for reconsideration against the decision penned by Acting Labor Secretary Romeo Lagman that found the planned PAL mass layoff to be a “valid exercise of management prerogative.” PALEA insists that the order is a “midnight decision that is faulty on both substantive and procedural grounds.”
PALEA demands that the new Labor Secretary to be appointed by President-elect Noynoy Aquino be allowed to decide on the dispute. More than 500 PAL employees will participate in the protest that will start with a motorcade from the PALEA office in Tambo, Paranaque City. A delegation of supporters from the Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) will join the rally at DOLE.
The protest will continue on Wednesday with a delegation of PALEA leaders trooping to the Times St., QC residence of President-elect Aquino to deliver a petition. PALEA will ask President-elect Aquino to intervene in the PAL dispute, cleanse the DOLE of corrupt officials and reform the policy regarding contractualization.
“The worst of crimes are indeed committed in the darkness of midnight. Lagman’s order is a midnight decision that was released with indecent haste given that the case has not been submitted for resolution and mediation proceedings are still ongoing. We insist that the incoming Labor Secretary be given the right to study and decide on the PAL-PALEA dispute according to procedure and on a just basis,” argued Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and PM vice-chairperson.
Rivera added that “Lagman’s June 15 order is faulty on both substantial and procedural grounds. It failed to consider the PAL-PALEA collective bargaining agreement’s provision prohibiting the outsourcing of jobs that are being performed by regular employees. Further the order came only four working days after PALEA filed a motion for the production of certain documents such as PAL’s latest financial statement and its outsourcing contracts with service providers. No action has yet been taken on the motion.”
PM chairperson Renato Magtubo slammed the decision for legitimizing mass contractualization and revealing the anti-labor legacy of the outgoing Gloria Arroyo government. Magtubo added that “This is the ugly face of contractualization in PAL. Regular PAL employees will become contractual workers in service providers who will be performing exactly the same job for less wages, fewer benefits and no security of tenure. It has happened before when PAL’s maintenance and engineering department was spunoff to Lufthansa Technik and MacroAsia, shell companies whose real owner is still Lucio Tan.”
http://www.partidongmanggagawa2001.blogspot.com/
The Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) held another rally this afternoon at the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in protest at the decision of Acting Labor Secretary Romeo Lagman that declared the planned PAL mass layoff to be a “valid exercise of management prerogative.” PALEA also filed a motion for reconsideration of the Lagman order in time for the deadline today.
Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) vice-chairperson, insisted that “There are strong grounds to seek the reversal of Lagman’s decision.” PALEA assails the order as a “midnight decision that is erroneous on both substantive and procedural grounds.”
Some 500 PAL employees trooped to the DOLE around 3:30 pm today together with scores of supporters from PM. The protesters lambasted corruption at the DOLE as they carried placards that read “Kung walang corrupt sa DOLE, Walang manggagawang maghihirap.”
This is the second rally at the DOLE to protest the midnight decision. Last June 22, some 300 PALEA members held the first protest. Then on June 23 a delegation of PAL employees went to the Times St., QC residence of President-elect Aquino to deliver a petition asking him to intervene in the PAL dispute, cleanse the DOLE of corrupt officials and reform the policy regarding contractualization.
Rivera explained that “Contrary to the finding of Lagman, there is no spin-off of company departments in this case. No subsidiary corporation was formed by PAL and not one of its divisions was transformed into an independent company. What is involved here is outsourcing of functions wherein regular rank-and-file employees and union members will be terminated and the functions that they are performing will be farmed out to service providers.”
“Worse, the terminated regular employees themselves are envisioned to be the employees of the service providers. Upon their termination, they will just be transferred to a different employer but will be performing the same tasks that they had been performing as regular employees of PAL,” he added.
Rivera argued that “Further, contracting out, whether labor-only contracting or legitimate job contracting, is absolutely prohibited by the PAL-PALAEA collective bargaining agreement.”
“Finally there are no sufficient bases for retrenchment. Retrenchment is a measure of last resort which should only be undertaken in case of serious and imminent losses. A close review of the financial statements and disclosures of PAL reveals that its business condition is improving and not deteriorating, thereby negating the necessity for retrenchment,” Rivera said.
__________________________
PAL union ask Aquino for intervention in dispute
June 23, 2010
Some 500 members of the Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) trooped to the Times St. residence of President-elect Noynoy Aquino this morning and submitted a letter asking him to intervene in the brewing labor dispute at Philippine Airlines. The PAL employees rode in motorcycles and vehicles that were festooned with yellow ribbons.
“The PAL workers’ petition is in pursuit of Noynoy’s campaign platform of good governance and the people’s hope for social reform,” asserted Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and Partido ng Manggagawa (PM - Worker's Party) vice-chairperson.
In the letter addressed to President-elect Aquino, the PAL union asked him three things: presidential intervention in the PAL-PALEA dispute, cleansing of corrupt officials in the Department of Labor and Employment, and reform of the policy regarding contractualization.
In a decision dated June 15, 2010, Acting Labor Secretary Romeo Lagman found the planned mass layoff of some 3,000 Philippine Airlines (PAL) employees to be a “valid exercise of management prerogative.” PALEA argues that the order is a “midnight decision that is faulty on both substantive and procedural grounds.”
“We insist that the incoming Labor Secretary be given the right to study and decide on the labor dispute according to procedure and on a just basis. We believe that the PAL-PALEA dispute deserves Noynoy’s intervention given that it is imbued with national interest. More than half of the PAL workforce will be retrenched and the airline industry in no doubt of strategic value to the economy,” stated Rivera.
The PALEA petition submitted to President-elect Noynoy included endorsements from labor groups such as PM, Alliance of Progressive Labor, the unions at PLDT and Fortune Tobacco and from scores of leaders of various people’s organizations, including former General Danny Lim.
In the PALEA letter, the union contends that “Acting Sec. Lagman’s order was released with indecent haste given that the case has not been submitted for resolution and mediation proceedings are still ongoing. Moreover the decision failed to consider the PAL-PALEA collective bargaining agreement’s provision prohibiting the outsourcing of jobs that are being performed by regular employees.”
Yesterday hundreds of PALEA members held a motorcade from its office in Tambo, Paranaque and a rally at the Department of Labor and Employment office in Intramuros to protest the order. In the rally Rivera announced that PALEA will file a motion for reconsideration and “exhaust all the means provided by law to protect the job security of PAL employees.”
__________________________
PAL union rally at DOLE vs. “midnight decision”
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
The Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) held a protest action this morning at the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to coincide with the filing of a motion for reconsideration against the decision penned by Acting Labor Secretary Romeo Lagman that found the planned PAL mass layoff to be a “valid exercise of management prerogative.” PALEA lambasted the order as a “midnight decision that is faulty on both substantive and procedural grounds.”
More than 500 PAL employees participated in the protest that started as a motorcade from the PALEA office in Tambo, Paranaque City. A delegation of supporters from the Partido ng Manggagawa (PM), PLDT union, Fortune Tobacco union and Alliance of Progressive Labor joined the rally at DOLE.
PALEA also demanded that the new Labor Secretary to be appointed by President-elect Noynoy Aquino be allowed to decide on the dispute. Tomorrow a delegation of PALEA leaders will troop to the Times St., QC residence of President-elect Aquino to deliver a petition. PALEA will ask President-elect Aquino to intervene in the PAL dispute, cleanse the DOLE of corrupt officials and reform the policy regarding contractualization.
“The worst of crimes are indeed committed in the darkness of midnight. Lagman’s order is a midnight decision that was released with indecent haste given that the case has not been submitted for resolution and mediation proceedings are still ongoing. We insist that the incoming Labor Secretary be given the right to study and decide on the PAL-PALEA dispute according to procedure and on a just basis,” argued Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and PM vice-chairperson.
Rivera added that “Lagman’s June 15 order is faulty on both substantial and procedural grounds. It failed to consider the PAL-PALEA collective bargaining agreement’s provision prohibiting the outsourcing of jobs that are being performed by regular employees. Further the order came only four working days after PALEA filed a motion for the production of certain documents such as PAL’s latest financial statement and its outsourcing contracts with service providers. No action has yet been taken on the motion.”
PM chairperson Renato Magtubo slammed the decision for legitimizing mass contractualization and revealing the anti-labor legacy of the outgoing Gloria Arroyo government. Magtubo added that “This is the ugly face of contractualization in PAL. Regular PAL employees will become contractual workers in service providers who will be performing exactly the same job for less wages, fewer benefits and no security of tenure. It has happened before when PAL’s maintenance and engineering department was spunoff to Lufthansa Technik and MacroAsia, shell companies whose real owner is still Lucio Tan.”
__________________________
PAL union to rally vs. DOLE’s “midnight decision”
June 21, 2010
The Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) will hold a rally tomorrow at the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to coincide with the filing of a motion for reconsideration against the decision penned by Acting Labor Secretary Romeo Lagman that found the planned PAL mass layoff to be a “valid exercise of management prerogative.” PALEA insists that the order is a “midnight decision that is faulty on both substantive and procedural grounds.”
PALEA demands that the new Labor Secretary to be appointed by President-elect Noynoy Aquino be allowed to decide on the dispute. More than 500 PAL employees will participate in the protest that will start with a motorcade from the PALEA office in Tambo, Paranaque City. A delegation of supporters from the Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) will join the rally at DOLE.
The protest will continue on Wednesday with a delegation of PALEA leaders trooping to the Times St., QC residence of President-elect Aquino to deliver a petition. PALEA will ask President-elect Aquino to intervene in the PAL dispute, cleanse the DOLE of corrupt officials and reform the policy regarding contractualization.
“The worst of crimes are indeed committed in the darkness of midnight. Lagman’s order is a midnight decision that was released with indecent haste given that the case has not been submitted for resolution and mediation proceedings are still ongoing. We insist that the incoming Labor Secretary be given the right to study and decide on the PAL-PALEA dispute according to procedure and on a just basis,” argued Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and PM vice-chairperson.
Rivera added that “Lagman’s June 15 order is faulty on both substantial and procedural grounds. It failed to consider the PAL-PALEA collective bargaining agreement’s provision prohibiting the outsourcing of jobs that are being performed by regular employees. Further the order came only four working days after PALEA filed a motion for the production of certain documents such as PAL’s latest financial statement and its outsourcing contracts with service providers. No action has yet been taken on the motion.”
PM chairperson Renato Magtubo slammed the decision for legitimizing mass contractualization and revealing the anti-labor legacy of the outgoing Gloria Arroyo government. Magtubo added that “This is the ugly face of contractualization in PAL. Regular PAL employees will become contractual workers in service providers who will be performing exactly the same job for less wages, fewer benefits and no security of tenure. It has happened before when PAL’s maintenance and engineering department was spunoff to Lufthansa Technik and MacroAsia, shell companies whose real owner is still Lucio Tan.”
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