PAL employees file motion vs. DOLE decision

CEBU, Philippines - The Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) filed a motion for reconsideration over the decision of acting Labor Secretary Romeo Lagman declaring the planned PAL mass layoff a “valid exercise of management prerogative.”

Some 3,000 PAL employees, 400 of whom are based in Cebu, will be retrenched if the plan pushes through.

In a statement furnished to The FREEMAN, Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) vice chairperson, said that they have strong grounds to seek for the reversal of the order.

“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,” Rivera said.

Last June 22, some 300 PALEA members held protest at the Department of Labor and Employment office in Manila.

On June 23, a delegation of PAL employees went to the residence of president-elect Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III along Times Street in Quezon City to ask him to intervene in the PAL dispute.

They also wanted Aquino to cleanse the Department of Labor and Employment and implement a reform on the contractualization policy.

Rivera claimed that there are no sufficient bases for the retrenchment, which is a measure of last resort that 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.” – THE FREEMAN