Profits not Pilots should be emphasized in the Airline industry
or (supposed to be)
"Pilots, Employees should be emphasized in the Airline Industry not Profits"
regarding the state of the Pilots, employees in the profit-oriented Philippine Airlines
by Lualhati Madlangawa-Guererro
or (supposed to be)
"Pilots, Employees should be emphasized in the Airline Industry not Profits"
regarding the state of the Pilots, employees in the profit-oriented Philippine Airlines
by Lualhati Madlangawa-Guererro
Last time, we witnessed the status of the national airline of the Philippines and its alleged layoff of Pilots and personnel in the establishment. This shows the crisis within "Asia's first airline" now under the control of the profiteer Lucio Tan.
The event is somehow in related to the following events within the institution:
An estimated 3,000 employees, or more than half of the total PAL workforce, will be laid off due to the closure of the in flight catering services, airport services (which includes ground, cargo, and ramp handling), and call center reservations including all support units then rehired as contractual laborers, wherein they will be non-unionized and thus receiving cheaper wages, fewer benefits, and have no security of tenure.
And somehow, this kind of problem again being fueled, this time facing the prospect of major flight disruptions owing to pilots resigning for better paid positions with other airlines and flight attendants threatening strike action over an age 40 retirement requirement-that it even left the airlines' 11 flights canceled due to the events happened.
How come the management, fueled much by profit do so? For sure their alibis would be loss of profits or in case of the Pilots, being spin-offed to PAL's sister Air Service Air Philippines, also owned by the profiteer Tan.
As according to Kilusang Mayo Uno, the Philippine Labour Centre, through its statement, said:
Almost a year ago, PAL announced its proposal to spin-off airport services department (including ground handling, cargo terminal/handling, and ramp handling) which curently employs 2,000 workers; inflight catering services, with 1,000 workers; and call center reservations, with 170 workers. On June 15 this year, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) ruled that such moves “are based on lawful ground.”
For information, "Spin-off" means a sale of the businesses and transfer to third-party providers of the said services. And PAL, somehow wanted to transfer its employees to Air Philippines, in a reason to cut costs.
If that's the case, despite doing this kind of act, how come the employees ought to be contractualized instead of being regular employees? Like the statement being said above somehow the real reason behind is to cut costs using spin-offs followed by eventual layoffs of these people, including the Pilots who are now striking-all for the sake of profits for the profiteer and the management.
And according to KMU Chairperson Bong Labog, said:
“The pilots have exposed well that they were made to work with Air Philippines, Lucio Tan's other airline, with contractual status and lower salary. The same thing is intended for almost half of the 7,400 PAL workforce – make them work under a different company to remove their regular status, downgrade their salary and benefits, and deny rights that are due to them as regular workers,”
These events what the national airline experienced unveils the similar problems encountered in a backward society controlled by the elite. Other nations encountered these to the fact that airline employees being laid off end up if not working in other aviation-related establishments, joining in the massed ranks of the unemployed.
This is not a matter of tourism, business, aviation and other related problems, this problem is a part of the socio-economic problem encountered in a third-world society, in an institution ought to be owned by the government and controlled by the ministry of transportation and communications.
And thus,
with the title being stated from above, must be change-and so is the management. If not, a mass strike will come, not just to condemn the management and the profiteer Tan, but also the government who really represents the elite. As Labog threatened:
"...P-Noy’s administration will be seen as a protector of the interests of the elite. And Lucio Tan can enforce more schemes to exploit workers, confident that the government will back him. And all these can lead to greater ‘storms’ in the airline company. They surely will not like that,”
The event is somehow in related to the following events within the institution:
An estimated 3,000 employees, or more than half of the total PAL workforce, will be laid off due to the closure of the in flight catering services, airport services (which includes ground, cargo, and ramp handling), and call center reservations including all support units then rehired as contractual laborers, wherein they will be non-unionized and thus receiving cheaper wages, fewer benefits, and have no security of tenure.
And somehow, this kind of problem again being fueled, this time facing the prospect of major flight disruptions owing to pilots resigning for better paid positions with other airlines and flight attendants threatening strike action over an age 40 retirement requirement-that it even left the airlines' 11 flights canceled due to the events happened.
How come the management, fueled much by profit do so? For sure their alibis would be loss of profits or in case of the Pilots, being spin-offed to PAL's sister Air Service Air Philippines, also owned by the profiteer Tan.
As according to Kilusang Mayo Uno, the Philippine Labour Centre, through its statement, said:
Almost a year ago, PAL announced its proposal to spin-off airport services department (including ground handling, cargo terminal/handling, and ramp handling) which curently employs 2,000 workers; inflight catering services, with 1,000 workers; and call center reservations, with 170 workers. On June 15 this year, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) ruled that such moves “are based on lawful ground.”
For information, "Spin-off" means a sale of the businesses and transfer to third-party providers of the said services. And PAL, somehow wanted to transfer its employees to Air Philippines, in a reason to cut costs.
If that's the case, despite doing this kind of act, how come the employees ought to be contractualized instead of being regular employees? Like the statement being said above somehow the real reason behind is to cut costs using spin-offs followed by eventual layoffs of these people, including the Pilots who are now striking-all for the sake of profits for the profiteer and the management.
And according to KMU Chairperson Bong Labog, said:
“The pilots have exposed well that they were made to work with Air Philippines, Lucio Tan's other airline, with contractual status and lower salary. The same thing is intended for almost half of the 7,400 PAL workforce – make them work under a different company to remove their regular status, downgrade their salary and benefits, and deny rights that are due to them as regular workers,”
These events what the national airline experienced unveils the similar problems encountered in a backward society controlled by the elite. Other nations encountered these to the fact that airline employees being laid off end up if not working in other aviation-related establishments, joining in the massed ranks of the unemployed.
This is not a matter of tourism, business, aviation and other related problems, this problem is a part of the socio-economic problem encountered in a third-world society, in an institution ought to be owned by the government and controlled by the ministry of transportation and communications.
And thus,
with the title being stated from above, must be change-and so is the management. If not, a mass strike will come, not just to condemn the management and the profiteer Tan, but also the government who really represents the elite. As Labog threatened:
"...P-Noy’s administration will be seen as a protector of the interests of the elite. And Lucio Tan can enforce more schemes to exploit workers, confident that the government will back him. And all these can lead to greater ‘storms’ in the airline company. They surely will not like that,”
