PAL hopes to resolve labor row soon

The country's flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) hopes to resolve its labor woes with pilots and flight attendants soon, especially when the peak season for flights begins. On Monday, PAL spokesperson Cielo Villaluna said the airline’s management wants to end soon its labor woes, which began with the sudden resignation of more than 20 PAL pilots some weeks back. “Kami ay may kumpyansa [na] mare-resolve ang problema sa PAL hinggil sa labor problem, yan lang masasabi namin (We are confident we can resolve our labor problems. That is all I can say)," Villaluna said in an interview on dwIZ radio, when asked if she expects PAL’s labor problems to be resolved by September. But she also said PAL is now looking at contingency plans, including using management pilots and tapping pilots from sister airline Air Philippines. She said PAL is working to resolve its row with the Flight Attendants and Stewards’ Association of the Philippines (FASAP) and the PAL Employees’ Association (PALEA).

Villaluna said they continue to train pilots to replace the ones who left PAL for greener pastures. She said at least four new pilots will be ready to fly PAL Airbus A-320 planes by September and another batch of four pilots will be ready by October. “They are going to complete their training and fly as A-320 captains, starting next month and in October," she said. Villaluna declined to comment on the speculation PAL may have to hire foreign pilots in a worst-case scenario, saying PAL has 440-plus pilots remaining. “We would like to focus on internal resources before looking outside," she said. On the other hand, she said it is possible PAL may use management pilots if there is a work stoppage. “Kung magkakaroon ng work stoppage (If there is a work stoppage) that’s one of the contingency measures, gagamitin ang management pilots (to use management pilots)," she said. When asked about using pilots from Air Philippines to fill in for missing PAL pilots, she said, “that’s one of the options." Lean season PAL has reduced the frequency of flights to some provinces but mainly because it is a lean season for flights and not because of the labor problem, she said. Villaluna said PAL has cut two flights each between Manila and Bacolod, Iloilo and Cagayan de Oro. She also said there is a temporary stoppage of flights between Cebu and Davao. “During these months it’s lean season because of rains, we have to scale down our flights," she said. “This is part of regular adjustments, walang kinalaman sa nangyaring labor issues (This is part of our regular adjustments. It has nothing to do with the present labor issues)," she added. Administrative cases Villaluna said PAL has started "administrative procedures" against the pilots who abruptly abandoned their duties. She said they violated the 180-day notice, or the 180-day period between the filing of resignations and their actual stoppage of work. “There will be several notices bago magkaroon ng administrative moves (There will be several notices before we take actual administrative moves)," she said. She added the pilots’ action had affected close to 5,000 passengers between July 31 and August 3. – VVP, GMANews.TV