Chicago, IL
Philippine Airlines (PAL) was recently privatized by the Philippine government.
New PAL management began stripping assets and engaging in confrontational labor elations in an attempt to downsize the airline, provoking the pilots and ground employees to strike in June 1998.
The ground employees and pilots complied with the requirement to return to work, but the company refused to allow the pilots to return to work and now considers them to be dismissed employees. The dispute was settled with the ground staff after management dropped its arbitrary dismissal of those workers, but the dispute has not been resolved with the PAL pilots and their union, ALPA-Philippines.
Philippines Airlines and the government of the Philippines have received many statements of support for the PAL employees from international organizations, including the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) and the International Federation of Air Line Pilots Associations (IFALPA), which have helped to exert considerable political pressure on PAL’s management.
The Air Line Pilots Association and IFALPA have pledged financial assistance to ALPA-Philippines.
The AFL-CIO joins with our affiliate ALPA and with the international secretariats in pledging all appropriate assistance to the PAL pilots in resolving their dispute and returning to their jobs. The AFL-CIO will convey a strong message of support for the PAL pilots to the airline’s management and to the Philippine government.