PAL faces labor strife

By Geoffrey Thomas | August 6, 2010

Philippines Airlines. Photo: Courtesy, H. Gousse, Airbus.

Philippines Airlines is facing the prospect of major flight disruptions owing to pilots resigning for better paid positions with other airlines and flight attendants threatening strike action over an age 40 retirement requirement.

PAL has already been forced to cancel some flights. Roberto Anduiza, representing the Flight Attendants' and Stewards' Assn. of the Philippines, told Channel News Asia that while some say “life begins at 40, at Philippine Airlines, it ends. [Age 40 is] too late to get a new job or transfer to another opportunity. We want a 60-year-old retirement age.”

PAL President Jaime Bautista responded to Channel News Asia that the retirement provision is in the collective bargaining agreement between the airline and flight attendants, and was agreed to by both management and the union. “It's not a provision imposed on them unilaterally," he said. "We can discuss it. We did not tell them that we are not amenable to changes, but we need to discuss [a] reasonable [age] because there is a clamour from our passengers for younger crew members who can serve faster."
Bautista said the airline is willing to give 25 pilots who resigned a chance to return to work. "We are giving them until Monday to return to work, take the flights that we assigned them. There will be no sanctions or penalties. If they don't come back, we will be filing [breach of contract] claims against them."

Discuss this news 22

06 Aug01:37

I have heard everything. PAL

By Leo O. Zakharoff

I have heard everything. PAL says that passengers are clamoring to have younger flight attedance so they can move faster...what a crock, and this guy is the president?
My feeling PAL must be treating their employees with bias
and the upper management are an elitist snobs...

06 Aug01:48

Do other Asian carriers have

By JJ

Do other Asian carriers have anything similar to this early date? Does SIA or any other that specifically advertises their attendants beauty? Is this pandering to a male dominated societies chauvinistic tendencies?

06 Aug01:55

Let's not forget that U.S.

By Wilbur

Let's not forget that U.S. carriers had similar rules regarding age, marital status and weight limits for flight attendants only a few decades ago. You might want the Phillipines to be as progressive as the U.S., but that is naive -- every country and their respective industries are driven by different socio-economic and political factors.

06 Aug02:00

I fly non-revenue (as I work

By Mike M

I fly non-revenue (as I work for a US airlines that does not fly to Asia) to the Philippines regularly. I fly almost exclusivly on PAL because their Flight Attendants (in fact their employees all) as so polite and efficient. As busy as the flight attendants always are I have never ever once witnessed any reason for anyone to complain about how they conduct themselves. The are always, polite and very efficient. I cannot imagine a remote iota of truth in that statement.

06 Aug04:09

Roberto Anduiza, representing

By DFR

Roberto Anduiza, representing the Flight Attendants' and Stewards' Assn. of the Philippines

What's his problem, was he at the negotiations....?

Retirement provision is in the collective bargaining agreement between the airline and flight attendants, and was agreed to by both management and the union. “It's not a provision imposed on them unilaterally," he said. "We can discuss it. We did not tell them that we are not amenable to changes,

What nonsense, you negotiate a contract and then complain.....

Where is the professionalism in this?

06 Aug04:26

A very serious lapse of

By ray

A very serious lapse of judgement.

I am currently working for a European carrier in the UK after long years of service with a US carrier. I started my civil aviation career with PAL in MNL during the late 70's. It appals me endlessly to hear such statements as Jaime Bautista proclaims concerning the crew. I find his statement about passengers clamouring for a younger crew. When I hear the president of an airlines make such statements, I seriously doubt the intellectual capacity of said person, but then perhaps he has other proficiences -not necesarily intellectual or professional that got him the post? At least now we know why PAL which in my time there used to be one of the worlds best airlines, is unable to extricate itself from the mediocre rut it finds itself in. Such a shame really.

06 Aug07:01

Contrary to the misleading

By Rob G

Contrary to the misleading title, this article and information has nothing to do with pilots retiring at an early age OR striking. Both of those reserved for flight attendant issues.

06 Aug07:33

Why not let the flight

By Flyer

Why not let the flight attendants stay forever? They do at US airlines. What's wrong with having burnt out, over-weight, elderly women with bad attitudes as service employees anyway? Look how well it works in America.

06 Aug09:09

In the Philippines It's very

By Vitin Rafael

In the Philippines It's very difficult to find a job after the age of 37. From a corporate point of view force retirement at age forty should be across the board not just for one group of individuals. The Civil Aviation Authorities usually dictate retirement limits to crews due to "SAFETY REASONS" and 40 is an unheard, unworkable rule to even negotiate in a country with severe low unemployment levels. Very Shameful!

06 Aug10:50

re: DFR's comments about R.

By pgwrox

re: DFR's comments about R. Andruiza; I question such comments as his train of thought is that once a collective agreement is signed, it should never be improved. I don't know the age legislation in the Philippines, but one must always remember that a collective agreemnt can never reduce what existing legislation offers.
By the way, do their pilots have to retire at 40?
And as for FLYER, his comments are offensive as they are extremely sexist and chauvinistic: I worked as a flight attendant in Canada for 39 years before my mandatory retirement at 65; and I can say that 99% of senior flight attendants I had the priviledge of working never met his descrition of them; and the few who did were like that in their 30's and 40's!

I pity all PAL employees to be working under such management.

Paul Gauthier
Air Canada Service Director (retired)
Toronto, Canada
As

06 Aug12:16

Weight limits make perfect

By Anonymous

Weight limits make perfect sense from a fiscal point of view. The more the crew weighs the more it costs to fly them around. An overweight FA can cost thousands extra per year.

Ability and weight are logical criterias, but age is not. Put the FA's through a physical test every 2 years after 40. If they pass, leave them alone.

06 Aug12:46

If PAL wants pilots to remain

By Walk Around Joe

If PAL wants pilots to remain employed with them, they should pay a competitive wage and provide a good working environment. Instead PAL runs a "puppy mill" and depends on the inexperience and naivete of their pilots to staff positions of great responsibility at below market rates.

It has been my experience as a PAL customer, that young employees who are treated badly by their employer are not necessarily better than more experienced employees. The only quality the inexperienced have over the experienced is that they are cheaper and have lower expectations of management.

06 Aug12:55

If you want to weigh the

By flight crew

If you want to weigh the cabin crew because they cost more to fly, let's start with fat passengers first and raise your fares. What a ludicrous statement.

06 Aug15:27

To Paul Gauthier. Why are

By Edi

To Paul Gauthier. Why are there not more people like you in this world. I bet everyone who worked with you was sorry to see you retire. You would be great management material for an airline who cares for their staff. Motivated staff give a far better service level than non motivated staff. God bless you and all the other professional staff who provide a fantastic service in the air. Also too flight crew, great statement. It's just a pity Mr or Mrs Anonymous could not put a name to the god awful statement they let out. I hope the problem at PAL is resolved and that Mr. Jaime Bautista is dumped in the rubbish tip and left to rot.

06 Aug16:03

The problem is not age. It is

By 3 x Union Furloughed

The problem is not age. It is lack of motivation towards a good work ethic due to over-unionized labor protections. The worst "In Flight Flight Crew", the ones that snarl at you until you turn off your cell phone, are the unionized FA's that know they cannot be fired for being rude. As a Mainline Pilot I have been treated as poorly, even yelled at, as our good customers by these ignorant "Cabin Waitresses." No Excuse but seniority does corilate with age so the older ones are usually worse. A class in Econ 101 would be good for all FA's. Without a customer there is no airline. PAL is trying to avoid these issues that the US airlines are stuck with. I favor 2 year renewable contracts for all employees. Including pilots.

06 Aug17:04

Amen to you 3 x Union

By Anonymous

Amen to you 3 x Union Furloughed.

06 Aug17:42

The airline I use to work for

By 3 x Union Furloughed

The airline I use to work for has one of the best ontime performances, good baggage handling, excellent safety record, newest fleet, and the reason the customers hate us is due to, you guessed it, our front line Inflight Hostess'. It's all about personality. Just pretend you want to be there. 2 year employment contracts renewed if you do your job well. If you don't like the job...please leave through your nearest exit....that may be behind you. :o)

06 Aug18:23

And I must add that if there

By 3 x Union Furloughed

And I must add that if there is a one FA (or pilot) out there that still thinks that a cell phone or Ipod is at all dangerous for an aircraft...please educate yourself I don't have the time.
The FAA says you must brief the passengers about electronics...not harass them. Give the briefing, smile, and sit down. The only reason that all electronics are banned is because the FAA does not have the resources to test every electronic product so they simply ban them all. Period. The jet I fly is Wi-Fi equiped and my passengers use their cell phones during the flight and most likely during takeoff and landing. This will be the case on all airlines very soon.

09 Aug16:13

Please note, in all this,

By Bart Groeneveld

Please note, in all this, that the original article erroneously (as I read it) refers to pilots in one sentence, while the article is obviously about the unusually young retirement age requirement for flight attendants. ATW should correct the article.

13 Aug17:03

American Airlines had a

By c. a. shepp

American Airlines had a requirement long ago that cockpit crew be single, male, and Roman Catholic. Yikes.

21 Aug17:54

Viva l'American Airlines, &

By IguanaDC3

Viva l'American Airlines, & may God bless it, too! :-)

31 Aug00:52

I heard pal was going

By Anonymous

I heard pal was going bankrupt is this true. Man if you are an investor you better watch out. You are about to lose everything.