PAL flight attendants threaten to join strike

PAL flight attendants threaten to join strike

MANILA (AP): Flight attendants and ground crew of troubled Philippine Airlines threatened yesterday to join a strike by about 600 pilots if the company institutes layoffs in a move to cut costs.

"We are going all the way with the pilots," said Roberto Anduiza, president of the 2,100-strong Flight Attendants and Stewardesses Association of the Philippines.

Anduiza said some members of the union would join the striking pilots in a picket line later yesterday.

Gerry Rivera, vice president of the PAL Employees Association, which represents ground crew and sales personnel, said members of his union will also join the picket in a "show of support," short of an actual strike.

Rivera said they will declare their own strike if the company attempts to reduce the work force or slash salaries.

On Wednesday, the financially beleaguered airline announced it will no longer accept back the striking pilots and will sharply reduce its operations to match the few pilots it still has.

It earlier announced plans to cut staff, slash costs and reduce flights to survive its long-term financial problems. PAL also said it will sell some of its 54 aircraft, including some recently purchased.

In a statement yesterday, the airline said it would resume regular but limited flights to 14 domestic cities and Tokyo, Singapore, Hong Kong and San Francisco beginning today, the centennial of Philippine independence from over 300 years of Spanish colonialism.

Before the 620-strong Airline Pilots Association of the Philippines went on strike last Friday, the airline flew 160 daily domestic flights to 39 points and served 30 overseas cities in 17 countries.

The pilots are protesting a management policy of ordering pilots to retire who have reached 20 years of service or flown 20,000 hours, regardless of age. The policy puts 225 pilots in danger of forced retirement, said Capt. Sotico Lloren, president of the pilots' union.

PAL, however, said it was not a unilateral management policy but a provision in a collective bargaining agreement signed by airline and union officials.

PAL said the strike has cost it about 150 million pesos (US$ 3.8 million) a day in lost revenue. It said it lost 8 billion pesos in the last fiscal year -- three times more than the previous year.

President Fidel Ramos said the government, which owns a minority stake in PAL, was concerned with the damage to the airline caused by the dispute, which he described as "big, bloody and costly."

Ramos ordered labor officials to find ways of ending the dispute. Labor department officials, along with airline and union representatives, met again yesterday afternoon in another attempt to arrive at a settlement.

Lloren said the pilots have offered to return to work on condition there will be no retaliatory actions against strikers and the airline will pledge in writing to suspend the retirement plan until a court has ruled on the issue or a new agreement with the union is reached on the matter.