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Aug 6, 2010
NINOY AQUINO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT – After 25
Pilots quit as strike threat grip RP’s nat’l flag carrier
pilots abruptly resigned last week forcing the cancellation of several domestic and international flights, the Philippine Airlines (PAL) assured that its flights to the United States and back to Manila will continue. No less than PAL president Jaime Bautista gave the assurance that it will not cancel flights to the United States even as he reported that operations was back to normal. “We would like to assure you that we will not cancel flights to the US,” Bautista stressed. “In case there are flight disruptions we can re-book, we can reissue tickets.
There will be no penalties and we will see to it that they will be accommodated in the next available flights,” Bautista added. PAL ferries thousands of Filipinos, Filipino Americans, Americans and other tourists to US through its daily flights using its big planes to San Francisco and Los Angeles in California, and Las Vegas via Vancouver, Canada, considered its most profitable route. PAL also services Honolulu, Hawaii and Agana in Guam. The government, through the Department of Transportation and Communications, Department of Justice and the Department of Labor and Employment, is working out a solution to PAL’s problem with its pilots and flight attendants and other workers who threatened to go on strike. The negotiations do not yet require the personal intervention of President Benigno Aquino III, said presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda. Thousands of domestic and international passengers were stranded in airports and goods went to waste last Saturday, Sunday and Monday as a result of the cancellation of several flights triggered by the abrupt resignation of at least 25 pilots.
Amidst the ongoing negotiatons, officials led by Senators Juan Miguel Zubiri and Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. appealed to the PAL pilots to report for work, citing humanitarian consideration. Zubiri said the on going dispute between PAL management and its pilots should serve as a wake up call, not only to the PAL management, but also to other airline companies and transport groups to ensure that their employees are well-treated and properly compensated. Several meetings have been scheduled with PAL executives, pilots and flight attendants to resolve the airline’s problem, including labor disputes, with no less than its Chairman, Lucio Tan, attending the initial meeting in Malacanang.
Officials of the rival airline, Cebu Pacific, were also invited by the government to the meetings to be able to strike a deal in which PAL passengers maybe accommodated by the other airline, among others. And if the negotiations with all the parties fail to come out with a happy solution, the government is considering taking over the flag carrier, but only as a last resort, according to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima. De Lima said that the Aquino government is not discounting the possibility of taking over the operations of the beleaguered PAL as well as sanctioning pilots embroiled in the ongoing labor controversy.
While at least 25 pilots who resigned violated their contracts for at least 180 days of prior notice and maybe sued by PAL, the airline mellowed at the reconciliation meeting when the PAL officials stated that they are willing to take the resigned pilots back without any sanctions meted, according to DOTC Secretary Jose de Jesus. De Jesus also said that the takeover of the airline is to be a last resort, when all else fails.
The pilots resigned because of big pay offered to them by Hong Kong and Middle East airlines. In a media statement later Tuesday, PAL said its flight operations have returned to normal after it announced new flight schedules for three destinations previously affected by flight cancellations.