PAL flight attendants say they will go on strike

Flight attendants of flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) said Wednesday that it would go on strike at the end of October after negotiations with management on gender discrimination issues bogged down. Flights Attendants’ and Stewards’ Association of the Philippines (Fasap) president Bob Anduiza said in a statement that talks at the National Conciliation and Mediation Board were now deadlocked after PAL refused to back down on certain demands by the union. "The strike will happen between the end of October and the first week of November after the mandated cooling-off period and the holding of the strike vote," he said. The association has filed a notice of strike on Sept. 9, and the process calls for a 30-day cooling off period and the strike vote, PAL president and COO Jaime Baustista told GMANews.TV. “Now, we will see if they can get the numbers [enough members who would go on strike]," Bautista said. Bautista added that many members of the association he had talked to were not keen to go on strike at this point in time. “It’s all noise," he said. “PAL is playing games and is insisting on its unreasonable retirement age limit. [It’s] not serious in resolving the dispute. PAL is just playing deaf and blind to the concerns of the flight attendants," the association said in the statement. The union, which represents 1,600 workers, is protesting the company’s policy of forcing flight attendants to retire at 40, or 20 years earlier than the mandated 60 years old. “PAL is adding more conditions to muddle the issue and intends to make more money out of the dispute. Its proposals to move the retirement age from 40 to 45 on condition of drastic work-rule changes to mix the domestic and international operations will result to retrenchment and mega-profits for PAL," the group said. "PAL wants to paint itself as reasonable but the real motive is to exploit the flight attendants," Fasap said. —JE/VS, GMANews.TV