MANILA, Philippines - The labor union of the country's flag carrier, Philippine Airlines (PAL), has filed a motion for reconsideration of a Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) decision that allowed PAL management to outsource its critical operations, resulting in the possible mass layoff of some 3,000 employees.

The Philippine Airlines Employees' Association (PALEA) assailed the DoLE "midnight" order signed by Acting Secretary Romeo Lagman that upheld the legality of the spin-off/outsourcing of several departments of PAL, including In-Flight Catering, Airport Services, and Call Center Reservations.

“There are strong grounds to seek the reversal of Lagman’s decision," said Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and Partido ng Manggagawa vice-chairperson.

Rivera explained that contrary to Lagman's ruling, there was no spin-off of PAL departments.

"No subsidiary corporation was formed by PAL and not one of its divisions was transformed into an independent company. What is involved here is outsourcing of functions wherein regular rank-and-file employees and union members will be terminated and the functions that they are performing will be farmed out to service providers," he said.
 
“Worse, the terminated regular employees themselves are envisioned to be the employees of the service providers. Upon their termination, they will just be transferred to a different employer but will be performing the same tasks that they had been performing as regular employees of PAL,” he added.
 
Rivera also argued that contracting out was prohibited under the PAL-PALEA collective bargaining agreement.
 
“Finally, there are no sufficient bases for retrenchment. Retrenchment is a measure of last resort which should only be undertaken in case of serious and imminent losses. A close review of the financial statements and disclosures of PAL reveals that its business condition is improving and not deteriorating, thereby negating the necessity for retrenchment,” Rivera said.

Some 500 PAL employees trooped to the DoLE around 3:30 p.m. Monday to protest the department's order. This was the second rally held at the Labor Department.

The outsourcing of operations was part of PAL's restructuring program in a bid to become profitable again after booking huge losses in the last 3 years.