Philippine Airlines union slams President’s ‘fire-all-you-can’ policy

August 18, 2011

The Office of the President has denied a motion for reconsideration by the Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) and affirmed its earlier ruling allowing Philippine Airlines to lay off 2,600 employees and make them contractual workers in third-party service providers.

Gerry Rivera, PALEA President and a Vice-Chair of the ITF Ground Staff Committee, slammed the decision by saying “With the Office of the President’s decision permitting PAL to retrench thousands of workers despite billions in profit, PNoy has unveiled his fire-all-you-can policy. This overturns the provisions of the Labor Code and jurisprudence of the Courts that serious financial losses are a necessary ground for retrenchment.”

PALEA is consulting its lawyers who only received the decision recently, on the next legal steps to be taken. The union has announced a protest action for next Monday against the decision.  Rivera will also ask for support from fellow airline unions in the Asia-Pacific region, which have gathered in Manila for a seminar on the aviation industry organised by the International Transport Workers Federation. 

View the ITF’s PALEA Campaign page the full press release here