PALEA: Bangin ba ang dulo ng tuwid na daan?

Juana Change ni Mae Paner

Abante-Tonite Online

NOVEMBER 09, 2011 WEDNESDAY

http://www.abante-tonite.com/issue/nov0911/edit_juana.htm

“Bangin yata ang dulo ng tuwid na daan para sa a­ming mga manggagawa!” sabi ni Mang Ben (‘di n’ya tunay na pangalan). Whew!

Nang marinig ko ang sinabing ito habang nasa picket line ako ng PALEA, nasaktan ako para sa mga miyembro ng unyon. Masakit din sa akin ang ginawa ng ating presidenteng si PNoy.

Sa tingin nila ang DOLE at si PNoy na s’yang dapat sanang nagtatanggol sa uring manggagawa, ay siya pang nagdidiin sa kanila. At ang interes na pinuprotektahan ay ang interes ni Lucio Tan.

Pagkatapos ng sampung taong paghihintay na magbukas na muli ang CBA ay binulaga ang mga emple­yado ng PAL nang sabihin sa kanilang gagawin na lamang silang kontraktwal na mga emple­yado dahil mag-a-outsource na lamang ang PAL dahil sila ay nalulugi. Pero ang nakakaloka ay sila pa rin ang kukunin.

Ang ibig sabihin nito para sa superbisor na si Mang Ramon (‘di niya tunay na pangalan) na naninilbihan sa PAL ng tatlumpu’t isang taon ay kakaltasan ang sweldo n’ya ng P20,000.00. Mula P31,000 ay sasahod na lamang siya ng P11,000.00 kada buwan. At wala na siyang medical benefits kapag siya ay kontraktwal na. Tuwing limang buwan ay ire-renew ang kontrata n’ya. Sa ganoong paraan ay malaki ang matitipid ng management.

Pero ang ikinatuwa ko ay ang nakita kong tibay ng loob at pagkabuo ng sama­han ng mga unyonista.

Kahit na sadyang pinapaali­ngasaw ang bulok na pagkain mula sa catering department ng PAL na nasa kabilang bakod lamang kung nasaan ang p­icket line ay ito pa rin ang naibulalas ng isa, “Naamoy n’yo ba ang leche flan? Sarap naman ng amoy.”

Bilib na bilib din si Fr. Nonong sa pinapakitang katatagan ng kalooban ng mga taga-PALEA kaya sa kanyang homily ay nasabi n’ya, “Dapat kayo ang nagsesermon at ako ang nakikinig sa inyo.”

Pinakinggan ko ang mga istorya kaakibat ng masalimuot na isyu na ito. Nakakagiba ng dibdib sa totoo lang. Kailangan lang na mari­nig ang kanilang katotohanan para sila ay lubos na maintindihan. Lehitimo at makatao ang kanilang mga kahilingan.

At kapag ang tao ay naninindigan, natural lamang na may nasasaktan at naapektuhan. Tayo ‘yun! Ang mga nagbibiyahe at sumasakay sa PAL. Ginagamit tayong dahilan ng mga naninilbihan para buwagin ang laban ng mga taga-PALEA!

Nakakaistorbo sa taumba­yan ang ginagawa ng iilang libong tao lamang! Ang higit na naka­rarami ang pinoprotektahan. Sa ganang akin, ang higit at laging inaapi ang pinoprotektahan. At sila ay ang mga uring manggagawa.

Habang nagmimisa ay ramdam ko ang mga petis­yong ito:

Para sa aming pinagla­labang regular na trabaho...

Para sa tibay ng loob ng bawat isa na ipagpatuloy ang labang ito...

Para sa pag-unawa ng mga pasahero ng PAL sa usaping ito...

Para sa pag-angat ng kamulatan ng publiko sa mapang-aping sistemang kontraktwalisasyon...

Para sa katarungan, kapayapaan at lipunang makatao...

At nawa’y ang maging tugon:

Diyos ng katarungan, dinggin mo kami.

Stop the farce

By: Solita Collas-Monsod

Philippine Daily Inquirer
11:01 pm Friday, November 4th, 2011

Philippine Airlines is crying harassment by its employees and their union (Palea) and asking for support from business groups like the Makati Business Club. Sort of like a “we’re all in this together and if it can happen to us it can happen to you” structural message.

Unbelievable. In the past decade the public has been witness to how badly PAL has treated its pilots (terminating, then rehiring them at entry-level wages, asking for legislation to prevent pilots from working for foreign airlines) and its flight attendants (firing, then rehiring at entry-level wages, onerous working and retirement conditions, long-drawn-out, never-ending CBA negotiations). And now, it wants to give its ground crew the same fire-and-rehire-at-entry-level wages treatment, slightly modified. Chutzpah.

From where I sit, PAL is not the victim of labor unions (leftist/Red-leaning, is the sub-message) but the exploiter of labor. It has been doing it for a long time, but this is beyond the pale. It should not be allowed to get away with it. Only consider:

First, the background: In 1998, PAL was in financial trouble as a result of a pilot strike, and as part of its rehabilitation plan, downsized its labor force—but almost immediately rehired most of them at entry-level salaries (i.e., loss of seniority—the start of a pattern). The Palea went on strike to protest the downsizing, and then President Joseph Estrada, a great friend of PAL owner Lucio Tan, created an interagency task force to broker an agreement between PAL and Palea.

The agreement included Palea consenting to a 10-year suspension of the PAL-Palea Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), in an effort to assure creditors and potential investors of industrial peace. In effect, Palea not only agreed that in the next 10 years, any wage increases would be decided solely by management, but that there would also be a 10-year moratorium on strikes. Does that sound like PAL was a victim and Palea the predator?

After the 10-year period, during which the employees were given yearly wage increases that were less than what they had been receiving with previous CBAs, PAL announced to Palea (August 2009) that it intended to spin off/outsource the airport services department (every activity of PAL performed in the airport) as well as the catering department. Does that sound like PAL was a victim and Palea the aggressor?

Just like that. Having gone without bargaining for 10 years, in order to help PAL turn its finances around, that is how Palea’s patience gets rewarded. And up to this time, PAL has refused to sit down with Palea for CBA negotiations. Which means, as a result, that for the past three years, the PAL employees have not received any salary increase. Does that sound like PAL is a victim and Palea the aggressor?

Now let us focus on outsourcing. While it is different from off-shoring (sending your laundry to the cleaners is outsourcing), most outsourcing is also off-shoring or offshore outsourcing, and our BPOs are examples. And the basic reason is to cut costs (e.g., in the BPO situation, Philippine or Indian labor being cheaper than American or European labor), and/or, as it is so delicately phrased, “to allow a company to concentrate on its core competencies.”

That sounds good, doesn’t it? Who can possibly be against such objectives? Which is why our labor department and the Office of the President so sanctimoniously talk about “management prerogative” being a valid reason for retrenchment.

But hold on a moment. A closer examination of how this cost-savings will take place shows how PAL’s version has made a farce, a travesty of this principle.

Consider: who is PAL going to contract these services out to? Well, from reports, it wants to contract the airport services (passenger, baggage, cargo, handling, equipment maintenance) to a company called Sky Logistics, and thus will no longer need the services of about 2,000 current employees. It intends to contract its in-flight catering activities to a company called Sky Kitchen, thus no longer requiring the services of 400 current PAL employees. And finally, the reservations and bookings will be contracted out to a call center called SPI Global, thus making another 300 of its current employees redundant.

The problem, dear reader, is that with the exception of SPI Global (which is PLDT’s BPO arm, and which probably started the rumor that Manny Pangilinan was about to buy PAL),  the other two companies have absolutely no experience in the services they are supposed to provide, and were in fact reportedly incorporated only in 2009 (when PAL announced it was outsourcing). It seems that their only claim to airline services activities is that they are both named Sky.

Sky Logistics and Sky Kitchen are reportedly owned by a Chinese-Filipino named Manny Osmeña from Cebu—no relationship at all with the Cebu Osmeñas. I promise to look up their financials and their other owners, if any.

So, if these two corporations are new and untested, why did PAL choose them? One will not speculate. But what PAL intended to do (in the guise of doing its employees a favor) is to have these firms hire the 2,400 employees it wants to retrench—but at entry-level salaries. Again. The nth time PAL uses this technique, that’s where the cost-savings will come from.

In other words, PAL’s outsourcing consists of firing its employees, and then hiring them at entry-level wages through what looks like a couple of dummy corporations.

Stop the farce. Stop the exploitation.

I Stand With PALEA

Stand with the workers all over the world to fight for job security and labor dignity. Stand with PALEA.

We gather in solidarity with the 2,600 PALEA workers who lost their jobs to the evils of contractualization. We unite with the Filipino working class who feel wronged by corporate greed, violations on their labor rights, outsourcing, discrimination in the work place, unsafe working conditions, and dire economic conditions. The plight of the 2,600 PAL workers is the plight of every Filipino worker. We encourage everyone to take action. Join the struggle. Add your voice to the growing movement against contractualization. Stand with the workers all over the world to fight for job security and labor dignity. Stand with PALEA.

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Support PALEA:

Visit blogs Palea Cebu and Tex Views for more information.

Follow us on twitter: http://twitter.com/ @paleacebu

Tweet your support at: #palea #supportpalea #istandwithpalea

Visit facebook: http://www.facebook.com/paleacebu

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Visit International Transport Workers' Federation site for PAL workers:

www.saveourpaljobs.org

Discuss with your union what else can be done to support PAL workers.

Discuss with your workmates & union delegates donating to PALEA Strike Fund.

PALEA Strike Fund

Acount Number 00008-057-00403-9

Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC)

Quirino Ave., Baclaran, Paranaque City

Philippines