PALEA strike to impact on flag carrier’s bottom line, PAL official says

The protest action by members of the PAL Employees Association (PALEA) on Tuesday slashed by as much as 80 percent the cargo and passenger revenues of the flag carrier, an official of Philippine Airlines said Thursday. PAL lost 80 percent of its daily revenues between $4 million and $5 million, Cielo Villaluna, PAL spokesperson, told GMA News Online in an interview. The protest action by PALEA members will “definitely have an impact on our bottom line," she said. In peso terms, the PAL official estimated the daily revenues at P160 million. “We lost 80 percent of this amount because of the paralysis that occurred practically the whole day of September 27," she said. Villaluna estimated that by Wednesday, with PAL management slowly restoring its operations that was disrupted by a sit-down strike of PALEA members, the revenue loss was pared down to 60 percent. As of Thursday, PAL was able to “restore close to 50 percent of our total flight frequencies… We were able to decongested Terminal 2, our homebase, [by moving some] of the flights from Terminal 2 to Terminal 3," she added. PAL is now preparing to file administrative charges for abandonment of post and dereliction of duty against those involved in the sit down strike. “It is not only administrative," Villaluna said, because “they have hampered our operations." She explained that “the airport is a critical government facility [for public conveyance]." The PAL spokesperson was referring to the move of Malacañang to sue PALEA members for economic sabotage. (See video of PALEA strike dispersal below) Scare tactics However, PALEA on Thursday dismissed the threat of PAL management to sue them for staging an illegal strike. The flag carrier’s ground workers union also dismissed the threat by Malacañang to hold them liable for economic sabotage. Gerry Rivera, PALEA president, said these threats are scare tactics in an attempt to weaken the defiance of PALEA against the layoff and contractualization scheme of PAL as a result of outsourcing its non-core operations. “We are confident that PALEA’s protest against contractualization last Tuesday is within the bounds of the constitutionally-guaranteed right to seek redress of grievances," Rivera said. “Good luck to PAL if it can argue its illegal strike case. But we know it is just a threat intended to frighten PAL employees, similar to its repeated warning of administrative cases against protesting workers," Rivera said. “Economic sabotage" “Whoever advised PNoy on the economic sabotage case should be outsourced. The facts are clear that it was PAL which shutdown the company’s computer systems and other communication facilities immediately after the start of the protest, and then cancelled the flights that stranded passengers," he said. On Wednesday, President Benigno Aquino III said his lawyers would find out if the ongoing strike of PALEA members constitutes an economic sabotage. PALEA said it would hold a protest rally at the airport Friday, Sept. 30 — the last day of work for 2,600 PAL employees affected by the outsourcing program for the airline’s catering, online ticketing and ground operations. A protest camp outside the PAL In-Flight Center along MIA Road near Terminal 2 was set up by the association. “We call on PALEA members to report for duty at the protest camp since PAL has locked us out of our workplace at Terminal 2 and other offices," Rivera said. Reduced schedule PAL management said in a statement Wednesday it is operating at a reduced schedule of flights, with some ground operations equipment damaged by the striking workers.
The airline called in traffic enforcers after striking union workers continue to hold a rally in front of PAL’s Inflight Center. “Despite our best efforts to restore normalcy at NAIA Terminal 2, it is unfortunate that the union still persists in hampering our airport operations and preventing the delivery of service to our passengers," PAL said. Although operations slightly improved, a total of 64 domestic and 40 international flights were cancelled Wednesday due to manpower shortage even as hundreds of PAL volunteers stepped in to perform check-in, ramp and catering functions. PAL on Thursday said its scaled-down flights is a measure that shows safety remains its top priority. In replies to messages directed to its Twitter account, PAL maintained safety is the "bedrock" of its operation. "PAL will not compromise safety; it's the bedrock of our operation," it said. The airline said it expects to fully restore its operations within a month after service providers — Sky Logistics, Sky Kitchen and SPi Global — formally take over ground-handling, catering and call-center reservations functions, starting this Saturday, Oct. 1. Address the issue Malacañang is concerned by the situation and it wants PAL to address — as soon as possible — the issue protesting PALEA members which led to the cancellation of a number of international and domestic flights. “… Ang problema lang kasi ang expectations nila October 1 pa papasok ang service provider," presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said at a press briefing Thursday. “We hope the Philippine Airlines can do something to address the situation and the cancellation of the flights," he said. “Ang mahalaga po sa atin — insofar as the government is concerned, we are concerned with safety; we are concerned with security because the strikers po are also involved with luggage handling and we are very, very concerned with security at this point in time," he added. — With a report by Amita Legaspi/PE, GMA News