"All-out justice" for PAL and its workers

Come to think of it, this nasty and protracted strike and labor dispute involving PAL and its workersis causing tremendous damage to the nation that is beyond pecuniary estimation. Why is there no attempt to break the impasse?As of today, it is still a lose-lose situation. Management loses. Every concerned worker loses. The union loses. The government loses. Even the nation, as a whole, loses.

Managementis losing millions everyday due to its proven inability to resume normal operations for many weeks now. PAL is losing a big chunk of its market share to its competitors. Above all, it islosing credibility before the eyes of its customers, suppliers and investors, and goodwill before the general public.

On the other hand, theconcerned workers have lost their jobs. The union is likewise losing credibility for its perceived inability to defend and preserve its own members’ security of tenure, its failure to successfully fight for its constitutional rights to, among others, self-organization, collective bargaining, peaceful concerted action, and just and humane conditions of work. There is much gloom among the workers and their families who are facing a very sad Christmas and a bleak coming New Year. Andfor every single day that this deadlock continues, the plot of the conflict thickens and the dispute becomes more and more irreconciliable.

The government is losing control too, for its inability to settle the labor dispute and convince the workers to abandon an adversarial and confrontational approach. To the DOLE, it feels that it has already done its duty. The management’sOutsourcing Program has been evaluated and declared well within the law. The DOLE’s decision was affirmed by the Office of the President not only once but twice. The union has elevated the matter to the Court of Appeals. It has been the union’s view that management should have waited for the appellate court to resolve its appeal before implementing the said program. However, management held that, since the court did not issue a restraining order, it stands to reason that the DOLE decision upholding theprogram was already final and executory. Thus, they didproceed full blast, hopingat the start, that in no time, they could normalize its operations using the third party service providers. But they failed.As of today, allegedly, a good number of the retrenched workers have already accepted their respective separation pay. But there are many who are holding out, opting to keep up with the picket.

The union continued to picket the premises of PAL, preventing the latter to resume normal operations.And since PAL is losing tremendously in terms of revenues unearned and profits unrealized, that would mean, taxes not collected and thus, government revenues lost. The nation loses its claimed niche as a tourist destination of choice, havingseen tourists who were stranded in domestic airports due to the PAL strike. The riding public was grossly inconvenienced. Many hotel bookings had been cancelled, many appointments and conferences postponed indefinitely. If this impasse remains unresolved, the losses being suffered by all parties shall continue to bedevil the whole nation.

The labor front believes that that there must be a peaceful and honorablesolution to this deadlock.Since the government has invented the option of ALL-OUT JUSTICE, as a more politically correct alternative to ALL-OUT WAR, the labor front strongly suggests that the highest level should now explore the possibility to apply an ultimate solution to this problem. However,as a condition precedent to this ultimate solution, the Courts should expedite the resolution of the pending appeals in order to removeall legal obstacles to the task of enforcing the law. In the meanwhile, we should buy peace. There is no better alternative but to talk and explore more win-win solutions.

The time has come whenMalacanang should perhaps call for a conciliation conference at the highest level, with only the Union President, PAL President, the DOLE Secretary and the Executive Secretary, attending,with the sole objective of forging aCEASE-FIRE AGREEMENT, for the parties to return to the arbitration table, with a STAUS QUO ANTEconcord, and perhaps a financial assistance to tide the workers over the hard times, while awaiting for the final decision by the courts. If it is proper to extend millions of assistanceto the Alex Boncayao Brigade and the MILF, why not make an honorable peace, by offering a palm leaf, instead of spending millions in attorney’s fees and litigation expenses. There must be a way out of this nasty quagmire. And the only peaceful way is to talk and make peace.