PAL fires al striking pilots

PAL fires al striking pilots

MANILA (AP): Philippine Airlines announced yesterday it was
firing all striking pilots who had defied a return to work order,
plunging the financially-troubled airline into one of its biggest
labor crises.

The pilots continued a strike and staged a protest march
yesterday, defying airline threats of dismissal unless they
return to work.

The strike began last Friday, forcing international and
domestic flight cancellations and stranding hundreds of
passengers.

"Some pilots were able to beat the deadline but those who
remained defiant were, in accordance with law and jurisprudence,
declared as having lost their jobs with the airline," PAL said in
a statement.

An airline official refused to say how many pilots chose to
return to work but the pilots' union said it remained backed up
by all of its 620 members.

Calling the strike illegal, the airline fired 29 officers of
the Airline Pilots Association of the Philippines Saturday and
warned remaining members would also be dismissed if they didn't
return to work by noon of yesterday.

Instead of returning to work, the pilots marched around a PAL
compound in metropolitan Manila's suburban Paranaque city,
brandishing placards that read "Give labor its due" and "All is
not well in PAL."

The strikers staged a countdown and yelled, "jobless!" at noon
yesterday.

Union spokesman Florendo Umali said the dismissal of the union
officers was illegal and warned they would go on with the strike
indefinitely until their demands are met.

The union is protesting a new management policy of retiring
pilots who have reached 20 years of service or flown 20,000
hours, regardless of age. This policy puts about 200 pilots in
danger of being "retired," Umali said.

PAL called the strike illegal because the Department of Labor
has assumed jurisdiction over the labor dispute. Labor department
officials were determining whether the strike was illegal or not,
and trying to mediate.

PAL scheduled five international flights out of Manila,
including three bound for Hong Kong, one for Singapore and
another for Los Angeles and 14 domestic flights.

Over the past four years, the airline has incurred annual
losses ranging from 451.4 million pesos (US$11.3 million) to 2.5
billion pesos.