Officials of the Anakpawis chapter in PAL said they received information that PAL management is retiring some of its pilots and transferring them to other Tan airlines, specifically Air Philippines and Aero Filipinas, as contractual pilots, with their wages reduced by half. PAL management also wants some pilots to sign contracts stipulating that they would be willing to fly not only PAL planes but these other Lucio Tan airlines as well.
One of the captains who resigned, according to other employees, refused to fly domestic flights for Air Philippines on top of his flying PAL’s routes in Asia.
In an interview on The Rundown, a news show on ANC, Bautista, PAL’s president, denied the allegation that PAL pilots were being transferred to Air Philippines. He also insisted that PAL and the pilots had no labor dispute.
Among the PAL employees, the pilots and first officers are the ones most vulnerable to forced transfer and additional workload: they lost their union following a bruising strike 12 years ago. During that strike, PAL retaliated by terminating about 600 striking pilots and nearly 2,000 cabin crews.
The cabin crews and ground employees had also been badly bruised by PAL management’s retaliation. To this day, the Flight Attendants’ and Stewards’ Association of the Philippines (Fasap) has a lengthy court battle seeking justice for the termination of its members. Meanwhile, the ground employees’ union, Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA), was forced to swallow a 10-year CBA suspension imposed by PAL management and union leaders said to be in cahoots with the company.
“Classic Example of Opportunism”
In a statement, David Cockroft, general secretary of the London-based International Transport Workers Federation, said what the airline has been doing to its employees over the years are “a classic example of opportunism, with the aim of cutting jobs, downgrading conditions and breaking the union.”
The mass resignation of PAL pilots, the impending strike by PAL cabin crew union FASAP, the struggle of ground employees against mass termination and contractualization under a ‘spin-off’ — all of these are interrelated, the Anakpawis chapter in PAL emphasized.
“It all stems from Lucio Tan’s moves to increase his profits even more by intensifying the exploitation of all his employees in the aviation industry,” said Rafael dela Cruz, chairman of PAL Anakpawis.
According to dela Cruz, Tan seeks to increase his profits further by reducing the wages of all its workers and employees even as their workloads were being increased. This is being implemented among pilots, flight attendants and ground employees — by breaking up the employees’ union or buying off its leaders, transforming regular employees into contractual employees, or adding workload or workhours without additional pay.
The 400 or so pilots and first officers have no union. A captain explained to Bulatlat that “we have had no opportunity to form one even if we wished to.” As a result, they had no venue for airing their grievances and demands, so many just left PAL when they could no longer endure the situation.
“Who would want to work for a company that treats you like a property? That forces you to do things against your will, thinking that you owe it big time?” KMU’s Labog said. “We understand the pilots; we sympathize with their plight. The disruption in PAL’s flights is a direct result of the PAL management’s actions.”
Some pilots told Bulatlat that it was not that easy to leave PAL and the country for overseas jobs, although many of them got offers from rival airlines. A pilot who had been with PAL for 11 years when he was terminated for joining the strike and who later reapplied as a new pilot in PAL five years ago told Bulatlat that, sometimes, it is not just the money but the “better opportunities” in other airlines that make pilots leave.
PAL’s Exploitative Schemes
Since April this year, ground employees have been on the edge because of PAL’s plan to spin off certain sections of the companies into entities they suspect to be dummies or partners of Tan. Some of them said the spin-off is merely Tan’s scheme to break up the union and transform its thousands of employees into lower-paid contractual employees.
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si lucio tan din ang dahilan ng pagteterminate ng British Airways sa route na Manila-Hongkong-London heathrow….. ehh kse nman ayaw ni lucio tan n tanga n may kakompetensya sa hongkong route ng PAL… Ehh di nman sya nagtagumpay kse simula ng dumating Ang Cathay pacific airways n flag carrier ng hongkong… ay wla ng ngawa yang lucio tan n yan…. tanga yang lucio tan n yan…. sana nga balang araw alisin n yan lucio tan yan….. ang iniisip lng niyan pera lng…….
Si Mr Tan malaki ang kinikita sa PAL at nakikinabang. Ayaw lang niya magbayad sa empleyado niya. Ito ang pinagkakitaan ni Mr Tan mula sa PAL:
1. MAINTENANCE NANG EROPLANO. Ang LUFTANZA TEK ay dating pagaari ng PAL na pina spin-off, iniba lang ang pangalan at pagaari na Mr Tan. Nagbabayad ang PAL dito at lahat ng airline para sa maintenance ng eroplano.
2. CATERING. Ang MACROASIA ay dating pagaari ng PAL na catering ng pagkain sa lahat ng eroplano ng PAL at ibang airline. Pina spin-off ni Mr Tan at ngayon dito nagbabayad ang PAL.
3.PLC. ito ang training center ng PAL kung saan nagbabayad ang PAL kay Mr Tan bilang upa sa building niya.
4.FOOD and DRINKS. Lahat ng inumin at pagkain ng PAL tulad ng Virgin Cola, ABSOLUTE water, PORK galing FORMOSA farms, etc ay lahat pagaari ni MR TAN na binabayaran ng PAL.
Malalim ang sugat at damage na ginawa ni Lucio Tan sa PAL…Unang-una sa mga employees-ground staff and flying crew. Simula ng take-over ni Mr. Tan ang PAL, hindi na natahimik ang company…Marami syang ginawang naiiba na ikinapangit ng Airlines!!! Binale-wala nya ang lahat na inumpisahang magandang image na ating FLAG CARRIER, never syang nakinig o nagbigay respeto sa hinaing ng mga empleyado, especially the flight crew. Maling-mali yan!!! There MUST always be an UNDERSTANDING, RESPECT, COMMUNICATION,
FAIR NEGOTITION, FAIR and SINCERE AGREEMENT between concerned parties.
I don’t think this is happening!!!
With Lucio Tan???!!! I will not be surprised…Puro salapi ang puso ng taong yan, at hindi maka-tao. Otherwise all these terrible issues won’t be happening,
in the first place. MASYADO NYA NANG INAAPI ang mga piloto at cabin crew for the longest time!! Mahirap lang sya talaga kalabanin because he could get the best and expensive lawyer. At siguradong tanggal sa work ang mga nagrereklamo.
Kung alam nyo lang lahat ang ginawa ng Air Philippines na yan sa mga pasahero nila last month- Cebu to manila. Flight was 10 hours delayed ha…they let all the passengers suffered inside departure lounge without food and drink till the flight left at past 6 a.m. the next day..! People started checked-in at 9pm for the 10:45 pm flt for manila. The aircraft door was hit and damaged by something, we exactly not sure what it was. I was one of those unfortunate pasenger and with me was my daughter. Maraming babies na nag-iiyakan, gutom, pagod, antok.
Pero, lahat ng yan ay NASIKMURA ng management na matiis ang agony ng mga pasahero the whole night. Alam ko na may nag-uutos sa manager-Cebu na galing sa taas sa manila. Sino yun?? Sa tanda kong ito at sa experience ko with any other airlines-domestic or international, HINDI GINAGAWA ITO SA MGA PASAHERO!!!
PARATING INUUNA ANG SAFETY AND COMFORT NG BAWAT PSAHERO…NO MATTER WHAT IT TAKES!!
Hindi ko kayang panoorin at tingnan lamang ang kawawang kalagayan namin sa loob ng departure lounge for 10 hours.
Pano nila nasikmura ito?
Lahat ng yan ay dahil sa PERA!!!!!
Ayaw nilang gumastos!!!! AT! ayaw din nilang ipamigay sa ibang airlines ang mga ticket na hawak na nila!!! SAKIM!!!!
Well, I happened to be a former flight attendant in the 70’s- 80’s, that is why I know or should i say, I know the PROTOCOL sa situations like this. At alam ko din pina-creeping delay nila para MAKA-IWAS sa gastos sa pag book sa hotel ng mga pasahero and food.
Kaya sa tindi ng galit ko at around past 5 a.m. at lahat ay wala nang pasensya, at mayayabang pa sa pagpapalusot ang ground staff- PINAGBABATO ko na mga radios nila!!! Mga WALANG SILBI na mga staff!!!
Mga walang backbone, tanga, walang decision, kulang sa training, walang experience. Saan ba nila kinuha ang ganung klaseng employees??? Wala ring mga
personalidad!!
Also, the ground staff didn’t handle passengers with connecting international flights! We only learned about those passengers when they approached us screaming at the counter of pre-dep.
This was truly a NIGHTMARE to all of us.
Passengers MUST BE FULLY COMPENSATED!!!
NO MORE EXCUSES!!! PERIOD!
Passengers have voluntarily submitted their names and contact nos. to me.
In time we will all submit our complaint
to someone who will and CAN address this
violent and HINDI MAKATAONG pag handle sa mga pasahero. Ito si Lucio Tan…mayaman, magaling mag-negosyo pero brutal sa kapwa. TAO BA SYA??!!!!
Now, tell me…he did it to his own people sa airlines, and he did it to his passengers TOO!!?? What’s next?
eh paano rin kung kunwari lang lugi ang kompanya? hindi ba dapat ang sahod ng piloto, sa kapwa piloto natin ikumpara, hindi sa ibang trabaho?
eh papano kung nalulugi ang kompanya? hindi ba napakataas na nang sahod ng mga piloto kumpara sa ibang trabaho sa Pilipinas? ganyan talaga, kung ang domestic help ay nangingibang bansa din dahil sa sahod. natural lang siguro sa mga piloto, liban lang may kontrata silang pinirmahan at payag ba silang magbayad ng multa sa pagsira nilang mga piloto ng kontrata dahil sa kanilang paghanap ng masmalaking sahod?
Bravo! You hit it! Please take note also how convenient that in GMA News (http://www.gmanews.tv/video/64230/abusive-treatment-not-salary-forced-pal-pilots-to-quit-jobs) the video is missing.