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PAL respects DOLE order, but ready for any PALEA action

Direct News Source

02-Apr-2011 Philippine Airlines (PAL) said today (02 April 2011) it will respect and abide with the order of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) [DOLE Case - NCMB-NCR-NS-03-018-11] even as it stressed readiness to deal with its ground workers' repeated threats of work stoppage.

"PAL will follow the DOLE order but any illegal action of the PAL Employees Association to disrupt airline operations will not be treated lightly," PAL president and COO Jaime Bautista stressed.

He said PAL was only informed late Friday night that labor secretary Rosalinda Baldoz issued a certification order remanding PAL's dispute with its workers to the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) for compulsory arbitration. He said the airline management has yet to receive an official copy of the order.

Bautista said that despite PALEA's pre-strike rally Friday which snarled traffic near the NAIA Terminal 1 and 2 complex, all PAL flights operated on schedule.

He said the union's torch rally did not lead to the major disruption that PALEA wanted or planned to achieve. There were no cancellations and 100 percent of PAL's daily average of 160 inbound and outbound flights (domestic and international) were able to operate. All other flights continue to operate normally according to published schedules.

Bautista stressed that PAL was ready for a worst case scenario - even the work stoppage that PALEA promised, but did not materialize at the stroke of midnight of April 2. "We are ready for any PALEA action because not only do we have contingency measures in place, we also have the commitment of many ground workers that they will not join the strike," he said.

Bautista said PAL's lawyers are currently studying the airline's legal position when the case is scheduled for hearing by the NLRC.

Bautista said PALEA president Gerry Rivera declared that the union will defy DOLE's certification order, even tearing a copy on the same on national television. "This gesture reveals PALEA's true nature: that it will not accept or respect anything less than what it wants. I hope government would not allow itself to be held hostage by PALEA's scare tactics," Bautista said.

As this developed, he assured passengers that PAL management is closely monitoring the situation and will issue regular updates or bulletins through media. "Our call center is also on 24-hour alert, ready to inform individual passengers of any sudden changes in their flight schedules. For more information, passengers may call PAL's reservation hotline at 855-8888 or log on to www.philippineairlines.com," he said.