Palace-backed talks between PAL, union set on Friday

Malacañang has called the management and workers of flag carrier Philippine Airlines to a meeting Friday for another round of mediation talks. Assistant Executive Secretary Ronaldo Geron said the meeting will be held at 2 p.m. Friday at the conference room at the fourth floor of the Palace's Mabini Hall. “Towards an amicable settlement of the labor dispute, and/or to elicit facts of information through clarificatory questions for the fair resolution thereof, you are hereby called to a conference on Friday, February 11, 2011 at 2:00 p.m. Venue will be at the Conference Room, 4th floor, Mabini Hall, Malacanang compound," read Geron’s letter, excerpts of which were posted Wednesday on the Partido ng Manggagawa blog site. PAL Employees Association president Gerry Rivera is the vice president of the PM. On the other hand, the PALEA pushed for collective bargaining negotiations (CBA) to begin immediately to end a 12-year CBA moratorium. “Since 1998, the PALEA CBA has been suspended for 10 years and the moratorium was extended again for another two years under the old union leadership. It is time to negotiate better terms and conditions of employment for PAL ground employees," Rivera said. Last January 27, in a union and management consultative meeting, PAL President Jaime Bautista asked PALEA to submit the names of its negotiating panel so that CBA negotiations may start. PALEA said it submitted its draft CBA proposal last October 8. — KBK, GMA News