Press Release
June 20, 2010

PAL union slams DOLE’s “midnight decision” on labor dispute

The Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) slammed as a “midnight decision” the order signed by Acting Labor Secretary Romeo Lagman that found the planned PAL spinoff as a valid exercise of management prerogative.

“Lagman’s decision was released with suspicious haste and preempted the ongoing mediation proceedings at the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). We wonder what reasons prompted him to make a decision just 15 days before a new administration assumes power and a new Labor Secretary is appointed,” declared Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) vice-chairperson.

PALEA announced that they will file a motion for reconsideration and exhaust all the means provided by law to protect the job security and labor rights of some 3,000 employees to be laid off as a result of the planned spinoff of airport services, inflight catering and call center operations. The PAL union is also planning mass actions to protest the decision as Rivera explained that the DOLE’s decision is not yet final and executory.

Press Release
June 18, 2010

Women workers express support for Robin Padilla in condom ad case

The Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) expressed support for Robin Padilla in the case filed against him for promoting the use of condoms through advertisements. “Robin Padilla is a good boy for endorsing the use of condoms which is traditionally shunned in the macho culture of Filipino males. Condoms are a reproductive health concern not a moral issue,” declared Judy Ann Miranda, PM secretary-general.

Miranda called on the Ang Kapatiran Party (AKP) that filed the case against Padilla to face a debate on condom promotion and reproductive health. “We challenge pro-lifers such as AKP and Buhay, who all stand against the Reproductive Health (RH) bill, to a public forum to discuss the merits of the issue,” she added.

PM is the group that backed the Department of Health in its controversial condom distribution campaign and trooped to the office of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines last March 8 as part of the group’s campaign for the RH bill. The Calabarzon chapter of PM also held a motorcade last March 14 that offered condoms for free.

Press Release
April 30, 2010

May 1 protest to highlight PAL layoff and wage hike

The mass layoff at Philippine Airlines (PAL) and the demand for a wage hike will highlight the May 1 protest motorcade tomorrow. The labor party list Partido ng Manggagawa will lead a motorcade of some 500 motorcycles dubbed “Sakbayan para sa Trabahong Regular at Dagdag Sahod.”

“Mass layoffs like in PAL just cancel out the thousands of new jobs that government boasts will be created in the Labor Day job fairs. The mass layoffs and the new jobs are just two faces of contractualization. Regular jobs are being destroyed and replaced by contractual work in which wages are cheaper, benefits are fewer and security of tenure is abolished,” declared Renato Magtubo, PM chairperson.

He also called on PAL to cancel the retrenchment planned for May 31. “The failure of elections that could result from a slowdown or paralysis of PAL’s operations is the responsibility of management since it provoked the labor dispute,” Magtubo argued. PM is supporting the fight of the PAL workers against spinoff and contractualization.