The Church’s social teaching on labor (Laborem Exercens) so states it crystal clear:

“The Church considers it her task always to call  attention
to the dignity and rights of those who work;
to condemn situations in which that dignity and those rights that are violated;
and to help to guide the above-mentioned changes
so as to ensure authentic progress by man (woman) and society.”

We, the members of the Urban Missionaries (UM) – a mission arm and partner of the Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines (AMRSP) in labor concerns – have been journeying with the members of the Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) in their struggles for security of tenure.

We vehemently condemn the decision of the Office of the President to uphold PAL management’s scheme to outsource PAL’s in-flight catering, ticketing and ground services.  Such scheme adversely affects the jobs of 2,600 regular workers. As Church people, we see this acquiescence on the part of Malacañang as glaring insensitivity and callousness towards the precarious condition of workers.

We are appalled at Malacañang’s call on PALEA to “respect and abide by the decision for the sake of industrial peace and the welfare of the flying public.”  Such statement only reveals a benighted misunderstanding of the just bases of industrial peace and welfare and betrays such crass inability to take on the viewpoint of workers and take up their interests.  The peace that the Church calls for is one that is based on justice, solidarity and genuine concern for the victims of injustice.

The workers at PAL have sacrificed more than enough when they agreed to a CBA moratorium in the 1990s.  They willingly set aside their right to collective bargaining to help the company survive the financial crisis of 1990s.  Now that the crisis has been weathered and the company has returned to profitability (PAL has declared it has earned billions of profits last year), PAL management’s way of returning the favor is to outsource the non-core departments, thereby reducing the workers therein to becoming contractual workers.

The motive behind the contractualization scheme is clear as day: PAL management wants to bust the union. What makes the scheme particularly insidious is the underlying thinking that the company’s continuous growth can only be achieved by undermining the workers’ right to self-organization, collective bargaining and security of tenure. But what makes it all the more appalling is the management’s blatant disregard for the law. The Philippine Constitution and the Labor Code unambiguously provide for and guarantee workers’ right to self-organization, collective bargaining and security of tenure.

Contractualization of labor is oppressive and deprives a human person the necessary wherewithal of decent work. We completely reject’s Office of the President’s decision to affirm the DOLE Secretary’s stand on the issue. Contractualization is a regression in labor standards and violation of the dignity of the human person as it constitutes a violation of the Constitution and the Labor Code.

Our workers are not mere expendable commodities but are human beings with value and dignity – the very recipients of all our human endeavors, for holy indeed are the hands that work!

To the President who recognize us “KAYO ANG BOSS KO”, we echo to you:

“Blessed be the LORD your God, who has delighted in you
And set you on the throne of Israel! Because the Lord
Loved Israel forever, he has made you king
To execute justice and righteousness.”

I Kings 10:9

To all the faithful and believers of the sacredness of work, we call on you to join the fight to uphold and reclaim our right to regular work.

Walang Dangal sa Trabahong Kontraktwal!

URBAN MISSIONARIES-AMRSP
19 August 2011