All about NOYNOY AQUINO

[skrewed]

---

share lng nko. . .

Déjà vu at PAL Solita Collas-Monsod



DOES A company have the right to restructure its organization, weed out redundant employees, and contract out or “outsource” a business function that used to be performed in-house, to an external provider? Of course, was the universal reply from those I asked. So Philippine Airlines (PAL) has the right, according to Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz, and she and PAL have been fiercely defending their actions/decision respectively.

Does a company have the right to terminate all of its old (not necessarily in age but in terms of years of service) employees, and then hire them back, directly or indirectly, at entry-level wages and no seniority privileges? Of course not, was the universal reply. Lawyer Lorna Kapunan was one of those I asked, and she was emphatic about it. So PAL was wrong on this, according to its employees, because that is what it is doing.

How to reconcile these two seemingly opposite situations? Simple, say the employees. Certainly PAL will be “outsourcing” (Situation 1). But the outside company is really an inside company—owned, controlled or operated by Lucio Tan, his family, or his dummies. Smoke and mirrors and corporate veils are being used to disguise the situation, but the end result is the same: employees terminated will be rehired at lower wages, and zero seniority (Situation II).

How do the employees know that the firms that will undertake the previously in-house services are actually in-house firms? They point to Tan’s son, son-in-law, some PAL officials as officers/owners of the firms being considered. Plus the very fact that PAL is offering the soon-to-be-terminated employees first crack at employment with the new (outsourced) service provider—at lower rates, obviously, and as “contractuals”—looks to be a dead giveaway. The disguise is careless.

PAL claims that this “outsourcing” is necessary because it has been losing money—the reported figures are over $300 million or P13 billion for 2008 and 2009. But why did it lose money? Its president, Jimmy Bautista, has been quoted as attributing this to a combination of low demand, restrictions to its expansion to lucrative routes in the United States, and a bad hedging decision that led to the airline paying a lot of money for oil that got cheap.

The low demand part is easy: the global economic crisis was in full flow in 2008 and 2009, and travel was a natural victim—something like a 7-percent decrease in worldwide demand.

The restrictions part is a little more complicated: it involves the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the former having downgraded the Philippines in 2008 due to deficiencies in our Air Transportation Office (ATO), and the ICAO giving the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), ATO’s successor, a failing grade in its audit. All these wreaked havoc on PAL’s flight expansion plans in the United States, as well as its use of two brand-new Boeing 777 aircraft for US flights (not allowed).

And what was the bad hedging decision? This was sometime in 2008, when there was speculation that the price of oil would go through the roof (over $150 a barrel). PAL management bet that prices would go up, so it bought its oil forward, paying current prices against future deliveries. It lost the bet, i.e., prices went down instead of up, and PAL took a financial bath—rumors of the loss ranged from $150 million to more than $300 million.

The reader will notice that the reasons for PAL’s losses in 2008 and 2009, as reported by Bautista, had nothing to do with high labor costs. So why is labor bearing the brunt of the losses?

More to the point, how much is supposed to be the cost savings attached to the labor retrenchment? Again, from news reports, this will be something like $20 million—or all of 6.7 percent of PAL’s total losses.

In sum, PAL lost $300 million, through no fault of its labor. But it is using that as an excuse to take out labor (that just coincidentally comprises 70 percent of PAL Employees’ Association [Palea], the labor union, and most of its officers), even though the “outsourcing” scheme will reportedly reduce its losses by a mere 6.7 percent.

One cannot help conclude that this is nothing but a union-busting move. And yet Secretary Baldoz swallowed the PAL version hook, line and sinker.

The irony of it is that this whole sorry mess gives anyone with a long memory a sense of déjà vu. Twelve years ago, PAL did the very same thing—terminating pilots and flight crews—over 1,500 employees. PAL made the same claim: losses (arising from the Asian financial crisis). It then rehired a great number of them—but at entry level wages, loss of seniority (and for the pilots, a promise not to form a union). PAL sold off its profit centers to Tan-owned companies, terminating the PAL employees in the process, and then rehiring them at lower wages and no job security. And managed to swing a 10-year suspension of the CBA with Palea.

An excerpt from the 2008 Supreme Court decision ordering PAL to reinstate the 1,400 or so flight crew it had terminated, says it all: “It was unfair for PAL to have made such a move; it was capricious and arbitrary, considering that several thousand employees who had long been working for PAL had lost their jobs, only to be recalled but assigned to lower positions, and, worse, some as new hires, without due regard for their long years of service with the airline.”

Perhaps Secretary Baldoz should be reminded that she is the secretary of labor, not of management. And that the LE in DOLE stands for “labor” and “employment,” not for “labor exploitation.”

[networkguy]

i agree wid u bai. salamat au.

sa 27th sept pa bai naa na memo gi issue na papulihan na mi og agency kay official off duty na daw.

ang kapitalista adto jd molaban sa usa ka kapitalista pd. imposible au adto cya sa iya mga tawo na gpahimuslan og mau.

mas mauna pa og asekaso ang ginansya sa mga kapitalista nya dgayon ang benefits sa mag empleyado.

sakto jud ka bro, probably kani si jack, capitalista pud pero kung ordinaryong maumuo pa ni siya makasbaot ni siya sa sitwasyon...

maghinaot ko Bro nga magmalampuson mo sa inyong lihok protesta batok sa PAL...

MABUHI ANG PALEA!

[KlaytoN]

To: Ka Skrewed
Ka Networkguy

Interesado ko kung ngano hate kaayo ninyo ang kapitalismo. Ato nang e discuss unya puhon ok..

In the meantime, haven't you tried to check your comrades in North Korea, Cuba, or Venezuela? Any prospects or possibility basin gusto mo mu migrate didto kay walay capitalism? Suggestion ko lang na sa inyo..

See you later.

Ka KlayToN

[networkguy]

To: Ka Skrewed
Ka Networkguy

Interesado ko kung ngano hate kaayo ninyo ang kapitalismo. Ato nang e discuss unya puhon ok..

In the meantime, haven't you tried to check your comrades in North Korea, Cuba, or Venezuela? Any prospects or possibility basin gusto mo mu migrate didto kay walay capitalism? Suggestion ko lang na sa inyo..

See you later.

Ka KlayToN

sabta una unya na pagarpar kay ma facepalm unya ka, noy...

dili man jud against sa capitalism per se ang style ra man dire sa mga pinoy businessman on how they treat their employees... sabot ka? why man react dayon ka sakita ka? i know capitalist sad ka og basin ingon ana pud imo pagdala sa imong mga empleyado... swerti lang ka kay naa ka capital to invest nindot man na pero ayaw jud i-exploit ang mga trabahante!

paeta jud ninyo og style sa mo against lang gani sa inyong opinyon branded as leftist na dayon tsk tsk tsk typical pinoy jud... cge lang ako unya ipa activate ang liquidation squad sa npa unya number 1 ka sa list... hehehe

basin kalimot ka nga ang amahan anang inyong presidenti maoy numero unong komunista...

[yacky2006]

comment lng ko bro ha, member ko sa affected sa na outsourced sa pal rn. ang reason ngano dali au nka decision c abnoy regarding ana kay pag presidential election dako og nagasto c lucio s.tan sa campaign. mostly sa mga ni finance niya ka mga capitalist. mao dghan au ni gara rn na mga negosyante. bisan sa dole bro c baldozer gi affirm ra niya ang decision ni lagman kay nkakwarta nman pd.

ang gbuhat rn sa pal mgt kay unionbusting / illegal dismissal, before iya gi declare na bankrupt na, nsakay cya sa global economic crisis na issue. pero ni offer c danding cojuangco na paliton ang pal. naay statement before c cojuangco na halos tanan daw naa na cya na negosyo pero airline nlng wla niya. mao krn ngtukod cya og air asia, hpit npud ni mo operate. c lucio pd dli msugot kay mao ni iya gi gatasan sa negosyo. halos tanan mga produkto gkan sa iya mga negosyo pd. nya gnahan ka mobuhi ana? mao krn gpagwas npud na adtong 2009 na ipa outsource ang asd/reservations/catering kay non-core daw. among kahago, ilang ginansya.


sukad ghapon bro didto ko sa picket line ngprotesta bout ani amo situation rn kay hapit tnan gipalit nman ni lucio s.tan. mau unta dli pd ma under da table ang mga judges na ni handle sa case namo didto sa court of appeals.

mao krn padayon mi amo protesta kay dli mao ila gbuhat. mabuhay ang palea!

kani inyong piket2x line ma abtan gyud mog siyam2x ani. pangita nalang mog lain trabaho oi. kung mo daug mo sa lower court mo apelar nasad cla sa upper court walay kahumanan. pareha rani sa HL ni abot nalang sa SC wala gihapon klarong decision.

[yacky2006]

Trade groups slam Noy’s fiscal thrusts


11/03/2011

The government’s fiscal policy is under fire from business groups particularly its underspending thus far this year and its plans to impose higher taxes on so-called sin products, as trade groups said these policies will contribute to slowing down the economy.

The influential Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCCI) expressed strong reservations over the government’s plan to either increase tax rates or impose new taxes on alcohol products.

In a statement, the FCCCI said the government’s revenue goals and programs come at a time when the entire manufacturing sector in the Philippines in on a down cycle and the debt crisis in the country’s major markets gave rise to more uncertainties.

“The manufacturing industry is slowing down as an aftermath of the debt crises in the West and market uncertainties weigh on trade and private consumption. It would be preferable for the government to increase pump-priming efforts to boost the local manufacturing sector,” FCCCI president Tan Ching said.

The Makati Business Club (MBC), which is a known patron of President Aquino, meanwhile, said that the low spending during the past months greatly contributed to economic growth slowing down in the second quarter.

MBC chairman Ramon del Rosario Jr. cited the 47.8 percent drop in public construction in the first half which he said greatly contributed to the low economic output in the second quarter that grew a lackluster 3.4 percent in terms of the gross domestic product (GDP) from a 4.6 percent growth in the first quarter.

He added that the low spending of the government also contibuted to the quarter-on-quarter slowdown in job generation to just 857,000 from 974,00.

“We believe government spending, especially for infrastructure, should now be pursued more aggressively. In 2010 (when we welcome the new Aquino administration) we said the direction had been set by government. This is now the time for execution. More importantly, the government’s Private-Public Partnership program must now be pursued vigorously,” Del Rosario said.

The New York-based think tank Global Source also had noted the need for higher government spending to help boost economic growth the rest of the year to a maximum of six to seven percent against a government goal of an eight percent GDP growth this year.

Tan, meanwhile, said local distillers are already apprehensive over the possible outcome of the dispute raised by both the United States and the European Union against the Philippines before the World Trade Organization (WTO) on alleged unfair government treatment of competing foreign alcohol and distilled spirits relative to homegrown brands.

Tan said the FCCCI fully supports the decision by both the House of Representatives and the Senate to suspend the counduct of separate investigations into the matter while the WTO case is litigated.

“We don’t want our distilled spirits industry to end up like our erstwhile textile and garments industries. Practically all the RTWs now are imported when we used to be the world’s top garments exporter,” he said.

Tan added the local spirits industry employs more than five million workers and is one of a few remaining industries still open no matter the stiff global competition and economic downturn that has ended some of the weaker and less competitive industries in the country.

Tan called on government to “protect one of its own remaining industries.”

“We need to invigorate the local manufacturing sector since our President wants to generate opportunities and employment for our countrymen,” Tan said.

Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said the government was merely exercising prudence in spending as part of larger goal of jumpstarting the economy in 2012.

“We want to make clear we really want to spend more. Unfortunately, just like you in the private sector, we have an organization to deal with. But what is very clear right now is that we are in a better position than we were before the 2008 global financial crisis,” Purisima said.

He added the fiscal sector has more fiscal space now than it had then, that the nation’s debt is better structured, that the economy has a higher foreign currency reserve and more importantly its policy alignment is much better than previous administrations. CL


The Daily Tribune - Without Fear or Favor

Na worry na gyud ning mga ChiNoy kay pa bayron na gyud clag sakto. Naa ko amigo nga ChiNoy na yayay daw cya kay pa bayron na daw sila ug sakto sa tax. Wala diay ni clay bayad2x sa sakto.

Sa akong nasayran wala man nag increase sa tax rates nag increase cguro sa collection minus sa nalang sa bulsa

Then unya mga insik laba kaliwat ni PNOY exempted sa collection. wala gyud tay bawot ani.

[unretry]

^ mao jud bro, in between nana c Pnoy sa iyang mga kaliwat ug sa iyang obligation pagka presidente, karon nato mahibaw.an asay nagpalabi ani nya, iyang pagka insik or iyang pagka pilipino...

Mao na mga negosyante, laban n Pnoy pag presidential elections kay maka benefit man sila financially in the long run, so bahalag dli magka di mao ang pilipinas bsta naa silay makuha nga kwarta or mo lambo ilang negosyo, hala birada ug suporta taman sa ginhawa.... dba mga yellow fan boys and girls... yaw na lge mo pag buta-buta ug pa bungol-bungol, kay madayonan unya mo. wakekekeke

[skrewed]

sakto jud ka bro, probably kani si jack, capitalista pud pero kung ordinaryong maumuo pa ni siya makasbaot ni siya sa sitwasyon...

maghinaot ko Bro nga magmalampuson mo sa inyong lihok protesta batok sa PAL...

MABUHI ANG PALEA!

salamat bro.

kng ordinaryo ra ka nga empleyado maniguro bya jud ka sa mga benefits, bsan knsa pasultihon nimo kng pg aply ka, ai ko ingna ang sweldo lng gi apas.

dli man gud cya naapektahan mao mkasulti dyon og ingon ana. mkasabot ra pd ko niya bro.

[skrewed]

kani inyong piket2x line ma abtan gyud mog siyam2x ani. pangita nalang mog lain trabaho oi. kung mo daug mo sa lower court mo apelar nasad cla sa upper court walay kahumanan. pareha rani sa HL ni abot nalang sa SC wala gihapon klarong decision.

brod cguro ang pg picket namo ma undang pero ang pg file og kaso didto sa korte bahala maabot pa og 13 yrs pareha sa kaso sa FASAP, nya unsa ang resulta dba nkadaog cla. tga isa nla nkadawat og 3M+ as damages and backpay. ang pg aply og lain trabaho brod maabot ra na pero krn amo gi cguro amo regular na trabaho na naa ta security of tenure.

kng mdayon man gni ni brod na mpilde mi sa kaso mao ni ang basehanan sa mga uban negosyante. more income sa company, less benefits sa employees.

[peewee_toot]

unsa na mn ang plano ni noy2x about sa mga victims sa duha ka bagyo? any updates?