PAL employees approve strike plan
-A A +AFriday, March 25, 2011
MANILA -- Disgruntled unionized workers of flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) has reaffirmed its plan to hold a work stoppage, results of the strike vote showed Friday.
Gerry Rivera, president of PAL Employees' Association (Palea), said 95 percent favored the strike plan after the poll last Wednesday.
Around 70 percent of the 3,600-member union also favored the strike vote and a mere four percent opposed the measure.
"The massive vote for a strike is an expression of protest at the 13-year long suspension of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) and the planned contractualization amid PAL's (expected) $1.6 billion yearly profit," he said.
"Our demand for new CBA negotiations has remained unheeded for the past five months, thus we are forced to go on strike. A strike can still be stopped if PAL stops breaking promises and instead opens negotiations without any preconditions," Rivera said.
Poll results were submitted Friday to the Department of Labor and Employment for the conciliation meeting. In the last strike vote conducted last December, some 86 percent voted yes. (Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)
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