PALEA is back! And the struggle continues
After an epic two-year struggle, workers at Philippine Airlines have secured a deal that will see 600 workers reinstated. Organised in the Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA), hundreds of workers have defied the odds – maintaining a protest camp, fending off police and company thug attacks, typhoons and poverty – to score an incredible victory.
The Philippines is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a trade unionist. It is an extraordinary achievement to have survived physically and financially for over two years, to go back with the union not busted and with something to show for it: direct, rather than contractual, employment – which was the core issue of the dispute.
Out of the 600 workers entitled to come to the meeting discussing the deal, some 550 made it – even on the eve of typhoon Yolanda, when many were in the provinces helping their families to prepare. After an extended discussion, workers unanimously decided that they were better off, individually and also as a union, taking this significant win. They will now be back on the job and working to rebuild their strength.
The men and women of PALEA are heroes who have paid a high price for their incredible struggle. Socialist Alternative (publisher of Red Flag) is proud to have stood in solidarity with PALEA and proud of the role that we have played, in conjunction with Australia Asia Worker Links and other groups, in putting this struggle on the political map (see previous coverage here, here, here and here).
Press Release, 14 November 2013, Partido ng Manggagawa
The labor party Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) congratulated the union Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) for the settlement agreement signed today with the management of Philippine Airlines (PAL).
“Kudos to PALEA officers and members for a hard fought struggle and a well deserved victory. The battle over outsourcing at PAL is over but war against contractualisation continues. Workers should learn to heart the lesson of PALEA’s struggle – we can win as long as we fight well,” declared Renato Magtubo, PM national chair.
The most salient part of the settlement agreement provides for the re-employment of PALEA members to regular positions after receiving an improved separation package compared to that mandated by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Office of the President (OP).
“At every single instance PALEA lost the outsourcing case before the courts and government bodies – like DOLE and OP. Yet in the end, PALEA won its demand for regular jobs through negotiations on the basis of resistance and solidarity,” Magtubo explained.
PM along with the workers coalition Nagkaisa, labour groups, community organisations and Church institutions were among PALEA’s most determined supporters. The group said that they are ending the boycott campaign launched against PAL and its sister airline AirPhilippines with the formal signing of the agreement.
He added that “The return of PALEA members to their regular jobs belies the hollow argument of government officials that outsourcing is a global trend that cannot be challenged.”
Magtubo averred that “Ang panalo ng PALEA ay panalo ng lahat. We believe that PALEA’s victory will start rolling back the epidemic of contractualisation and be a turning point towards the revival of the labour movement.”
PM leaders will join PALEA members in a thanksgiving mass at 5:00 pm today at the PALEA protest camp outside the PAL Inflight Center near Terminal 2. Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo – among PALEA’s solid supporters in the Church – is scheduled to celebrate the mass.
The group will also be attending a victory march, program and concert on Saturday at the PALEA picket line.
[First published by Labor Party – Philippines (Partido ng Manggagawa).]
