PAL seeks dismissal of union’s second strike notice

Flag-carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) on Thursday asked the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to junk the second notice of strike filed last week by its rank-and-file employees’ labor union, saying that issues raised in the notice have already been settled. PAL spokesperson Cielo Villaluna said that the airline, through its lawyers, has already filed a motion to dismiss the notice of strike filed by the PAL Employees’ Association (PALEA) last Friday. “It’s simply illogical for PAL to ‘bargain’ or even attempt to negotiate directly with individual rank-and-file workers after it has already secured a favorable decision from DOLE upholding its right to spin off and retire its workers in the process," she said in a statement issued Thursday. Villaluna was referring to a recent decision by Labor secretary Rosalinda Baldoz allowing some of the airline’s services to be outsourced and 2,000 of its workers to be laid off.
President Benigno Aquino III earlier assured the workers who may get affected by the layoff that he will review DOLE’s decision. (See: PNoy to review DOLE decision on PAL layoff) The PAL spokesperson also criticized the union’s plan to proceed with the strike despite DOLE’s decision, saying it is an attempt to “ignore the rule of law." "PALEA's threats to stage a strike and ignore legal processes is tantamount to ‘taking the law into one’s hands,’ which does not speak well of the organization that lodged a complaint before DOLE in the first place," she said. PALEA, which represents more than half of the airline’s rank-and-file workers, filed last Friday a second notice of strike, saying it plans to elevate the labor dispute to the Court of Appeals. Sixteen of the country’s biggest labor groups on Wednesday backed the airline’s labor union and called on President Aquino to reverse DOLE’s ruling allowing the retrenchment of some 2,600 PAL workers.—Andreo C. Calonzo/JV, GMANews.TV