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.