PALEA accepts CA mediation, calls for workers' reinstatement

21-Apr-12, 12:50 PM | InterAksyon.com

MANILA, Philippines -- The Philippine Airlines Employees' Association has agreed to the Court of Appeals' offer to mediate its labor dispute with the flag carrier over the sacking of some 2,600 ground crew.

The union submitted a manifestation to the CA on Friday even as it called for a reinstatement of the laid off workers.

PALEA’s manifestation is in response to a CA resolution dated March 27 that asked management and the union if they were willing to have the dispute referred to the Court’s Philippine Mediation Center for “a final opportunity to explore the possibility of coming up with an amicable settlement of their dispute.”

Union president Gerry Rivera said they consider the CA’s offer “as an opening to end the labor row, which could not happened without the perseverance in protest by some 2,000 of our members for more than six months and in the face of three typhoons, two attacks on its campout and spending the Christmas holidays at the picket lines.”

The offer of mediation, he added, “further spurs us to continue the protest actions until we have finally won our demands.”

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/29984/palea-accepts-ca-mediation-calls-for-workers-reinstatement

PALEA testifies vs Philippine gov’t

Posted on January 25, 2012 11:31:52 PM

THE PHILIPPINE Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) testified against the national government at a hearing in Washington in a labor issue which could jeopardize the preferential tariff rates enjoyed by Filipino exporters through a US trade development scheme.

The testimony came as the United States Trade Representative (USTR) office performed on Tuesday a routine review of the Philippines’ status as a beneficiary of the US Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), the labor group said in a statement yesterday.

Manila, for its part, sent a high-level delegation to Washington DC to respond to the labor rights case which was first filed against the Philippines in 2007.

“PALEA presents a significant case in reviewing whether or not the Philippines has taken or is taking steps to afford workers their internationally recognized rights. We submit that the Philippine government has abused its power to assume jurisdiction of strikes thereby curtailing workers’ rights to freely organize and bargain collectively,” PALEA president Gerry Rivera said at the overseas hearing, as quoted in the labor group’s statement yesterday.

“PALEA was not allowed to strike on two crucial occasions to protest the mass termination of some 2,600 workers and yet Philippine Airlines (PAL) was permitted to proceed with the layoff despite a pending case at the Court of Appeals,” he continued.

The GSP, which US President Barack Obama renewed in November, grants eligible developing and least developed economies affordable access to the American market in a bid to stimulate domestic productivity among America’s partner countries.

Over 4,800 products from 129 beneficiary countries can enter the US duty-free through the preferential scheme.

The trade assistance, however, requires such countries to take effective steps toward upgrading and implementing its labor standards. Otherwise, developing economies stand to lose preferential treatment for their products, as in the case of Belarus which was suspended in 2000 for failing to protect workers’ rights to association and collective bargaining. -- Eliza J. Diaz

http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Economy&title=PALEA-testifies-vs-Philippine-gov’t&id=45658#.TyBIx49CWtR.facebook