PAL to replace employees who resigned

Philippine Airlines (PAL) on Monday said it will start hiring workers for ground duty to augment its workforce and replace employees who resigned or were pirated over the past few weeks. PAL ground union workers, however, considered the hiring as the “backdoor implementation" of the controversial PAL contractualization plan. In a statement, PAL spokesperson Cielo Villaluna said the flag carrier will hire 60 customer service agents to man check-in counters and “to avoid inconvenience to our passengers in terms of longer queues and waiting times." In reaction to claims by the PAL Employees Association (PALEA), Villaluna said PAL will not hire people from MacroAsia Corporation. “In fact, the decision to hire directly instead of getting a service provider was even proposed by PALEA officers during a management-union dialogue last week," she said. PALEA president Gerry Rivera said they will defend their jobs and their union if the flag carrier pushes through with deploying contractual workers Thursday. “We call on PALEA members to remain vigilant until there is a firm commitment from PAL for direct hiring instead of temporary outsourcing," Rivera said. Original proposal PAL’s Villaluna explained that management originally proposed to temporarily engage the services of MacroAsia for six months to fill the gap. The union opposed this, she said, so management decided to directly hire employees to end the debate. “Hence, claims by PALEA that PAL management will start using MacroAsia workers to man check in counters and departure gates starting June 16 is totally untrue and baseless," she stressed. “PAL management is hoping for a speedy resolution of the outsourcing issue. The longer it drags, the more our workers are disenchanted and forced to seek ‘greener pastures,’" Villaluna said. In March, PALEA also said it will sue the Department of Labor and Employment before the International Labor Organization for alleged labor-related violations in relation to the PAL dispute. PALEA has accused PAL of implementing unfair labor practices. — PE/VS, GMA