PAL workers to haul DOLE to court over layoffs

UPDATED 12:45 p.m. – After picketing its main office in Manila on Monday, workers of flag carrier Philippine Airlines are considering court action against the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) for upholding PAL's outsourcing plan. PAL Employees' Association (PALEA) president Gerry Rivera said they plan to question before the Court of Appeals the DOLE's decision, which he said virtually doomed their livelihood. "Hindi na tayo makakaasa ng hustisya sa executive, lalo na sa Department of Labor (We can no longer expect justice from the executive department, especially the Labor Department)," he said in an interview with radio dzBB's Sam Nielsen. Rivera also said they plan to stage more protest actions against DOLE's decision, but did not give further details. "This is the first salvo. Plano namin magsagawa ng kilos protesta sa kalakhan ng Maynila (This is the first salvo. We plan to stage more protests in Metro Manila)," he said. At Monday's picket before the DOLE, the PALEA employees and members of Partido ng Manggagawa lighted candles and placed styrofoam tombstones in front of the DOLE office to symbolize the death of their livelihood. Radio dzBB's Sam Nielsen reported the workers adopted an All Souls' Day theme for their picket, claiming the DOLE's decision upholding the outsourcing killed their livelihood. The picket was held despite DOLE Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz's “assurance" after her department junked the motion for reconsideration lodged by the PAL Employees’ Association (PALEA). “None of the 2,600 affected PAL employees will be rendered jobless," Baldoz said in an article posted early Monday on the DOLE website. In its decision, the DOLE said the 2,600 PAL employees who are part of its non-core services — in-flight catering, airport services (cargo handling), and call center reservations operations — are all guaranteed with employment and hefty transition benefits. The non-core activities of the airline are defined in the company's 1998 Supplemental Rehabilitation Plan approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission. According to the DOLE, the terminated employees will be absorbed by their respective service providers. DOLE added that PAL would guarantee payment of their salaries for a period of at least one year from the time of their separation from employment as the original decision provided. The employees shall be absorbed by SkyKitchen Phil. Inc. (catering), SkyLogistics Phil. Inc. (airport services) and ePLDT Ventus, a PLDT subsidiary (call center), according to the decision. “The affected employees shall also be entitled to a separation pay equivalent to 1.25 percent per year of service. This is an improvement of one-fourth the amount of the employees’ one month salary which is provided for in the original decision," DOLE added. It also said the affected employees shall also continue to enjoy trip pass benefits in accordance with the CBA between the PAL and PALEA and the PAL Personnel Policies and Procedures Manual. The terms include:

lifetime trip passes for employees with 15 years in service and more;

eight sets of trip passes for those with 10-15 years of service;

five sets of trip passes for those with 5-10 years of service; and

two sets of trip passes for those with less than 5 years in service. DOLE also said the decision, in declaring valid the termination of the covered rank-and-file employees, established two conditions under the CBA. DOLE said the action of the management prerogative was done in a just, reasonable, humane, and lawful manner. It also noted that the PAL management observed a 45-day consultation period, required in the CBA, before implementing the reorganization. DOLE had junked PALEA’s June 28 motion for reconsideration of the earlier decision of former DOLE acting secretary Romeo Lagman to uphold PAL’s planned outsourcing of services. The outsourcing would mean the severance from employment of the 2,600 affected PAL employees. Baldoz said the “just and humane exercise" of the management prerogative to close and outsource the services is reflected in the improved transition benefits that will be granted all affected employees. She said the benefits are “over and above the benefits granted in the original decision and even under existing laws." The DOLE affirmed the original decision to specifically provide the employees a one-year guarantee of entry point salaries with the service providers. Other benefits The DOLE decision also provides for the following:

Additional gratuity of P50,000 per affected employee;

Vacation leave balance that is 100 percent commutable to cash regardless of years of service;

Sick leave balance that is 100 percent commutable to cash regardless of years of service; and

Extension of one year of the medical and hospitalization package based on Articles XIII to XV of the CBA and pertinent company policy. Baldoz noted that the first two benefits had been ordered in the original decision, but she improved it, while the rest of the benefits were initially offered by PAL to its employees affected by the outsourcing program under its early retirement program. In rendering the decision, the DOLE said the PAL’s contracting out of the functions is also lawful and reasonable pursuant to the CBA between PAL and PALEA, the law between the parties. “The CBA affirmed the management prerogative of PAL “to organize, plan, direct and control operations", as well as the prerogative to “reorganize its corporate structure for the viability of its operations." Also, the decision cited several Supreme Court decisions upholding the exercise of management prerogatives. It added that based on the CBA and Article 283 of the Labor Code, PAL’s closure of the three departments was reasonable and lawful as it was a measure to address PAL’s accumulated net losses and deficits; the numerous factors adversely affecting its operations, such as the surge in fuel prices in 2008, the ban for PAL to enter the air space of 27 European Union member states, and the IATA suspension of PAL remittance facilities; and PAL’s need to survive in a highly competitive airline industry. According to the decision, the DOLE had established that PAL more than complied with the 45-day consultation requirement under the CBA, considering the consultations and preventive mediation conferences between the PAL and the PALEA before the National Conciliation and Mediation Board as far back as September 2009. The DOLE also ruled that the termination of services does not constitute unfair labor practice on the part of PAL. It said this is in accordance with the finding that management’s prerogative to close and outsource services in the three departments was done in good faith and was in accordance both with the CBA and the Labor Code. “The ‘good faith’ efforts of the company to prevent business losses and maintain competitiveness negate any suspicion that contracting out services was motivated by the intention to discourage the exercise of, or interfere with, the right to self-organization," the decision said. “In fact, PALEA shall continue to exist even after the outsourcing of services in the three departments with its officers and members in unaffected operations and departments" having commenced “collective bargaining negotiations with the company," the DOLE decision added. –VVP, GMANews.TV