Philippine Airlines Must be Reformed

Everyone or everything has their limits. The mass resignation of pilots from the Philippine Airlines (PAL) showed that the airline management definitely reached the limit of its employees’ patience.

Last week, the whole nation was surprised by the sudden resignation of more than 20 pilots from PAL. The resignations resulted into cancelation of many flights and messed up the scheduled flights of the nation’s flag carrier. Many passengers were hassled by what happened and PAL management scrambled to smoothen its operation.

According to some reports, PAL pilots are complaining about their impending transfer to Air Philippines, which is the sister company of PAL. Pilots do not want to be transferred because pilots in Air Philippines receive benefits that less than what the PAL pilots receives. Before the PAL pilots got transferred to Air Philippines, they filed their resignation and went to foreign airlines.

The PAL management cried foul to what the pilot’s had done. The management says that the resigned pilots did not follow their contract with PAL. They are calling the resigned pilots to return to PAL. The resigned pilots will face charges if they fail to return. PAL management is also thinking of charging the airlines who accepted the resigned pilots.

Other Problems Surfaced

It is not only the pilots who have problems in PAL. Other employees of PAL also have complaints against the policies of the airline. One group that bewails the policies of PAL is the flight attendants. According to the news, flight attendants receive a base pay of about eight thousand pesos monthly, which is lower than the minimum pay prescribed by the government. Aside from that, flight attendant’s retirement age is 40 years old, which is an age that is too early for retirement and too late to find a new career.

PAL also laid-off some of its flight attendants, forcing the remaining attendants to carry more burden of work.

Reform is Imperative

The mass resignation of PAL pilots is a good thing. Though it caused hassle to many passengers, the incident showed to the Filipino people how PAL employees are shortchanged by the PAL management. It showed us how deaf Philippine Airlines is because it just acted when its operations went haywire due to mass resignation.

Now, the PAL management is reassuring the pilots that they will not be transferred to Air Philippines. If they got transferred, PAL promised that they will receive the same benefits that they currently receiving. However, these measures of PAL are just a short term solution. There is no guarantee that it will listen to all the pleas of the employees. The Philippine Airlines is in need of reforms. All employment issues and labor complaints should be properly addressed.

It is a shame that our flag carrier leads in labor exploitation. It is a shame that PAL pays below minimum wage for flight attendants. It is a shame that the management is treating its employees like rags that are thrown away when is already not needed.

I hope that the issue will result into widespread reforms in the whole airline company. The Department of Labor and Employment should not only address the complaints of pilots but also the complaints of the flight attendants and PAL’s ground crew.

Now that the decay inside Philippine Airlines had been put to public scrutiny, I believe that now is the time for the Aquino Administration to act and show to the Filipino employees that it cares for them.

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This is an opinion article regarding the mass resignation and other problems of the Philippine Airlines.

How about you? What is your opinion regarding the issue of PAL? What should be done to address the concern of the employees and the management? Please leave a comment and let us spark a discussion.