Lack of Pilots forces PAL to cancel flights

[chua_riwap]

Teka, yang P400-500k, subjected to tax pa yan di ba? After tax, magkano matitira? Sa ibang bansa, lalo na sa ME, tax free yan, makukuha mo ng buo.

[ghosthunter]

hmmmmm. make's me think. gaano nga ba katagal? but I dont think it's less than 10 years.

Assume 12 to 15 years of service on average.

Would that be enough?

You have to remember these people are highly trained and have a lot of responsibility on their shoulders everytime they take off in their planes. Long hours and time away from family as well.

The airline has to compensate them properly if not they will just go elsewhere for better pay. It is just human to want to be paid what you are worth even if your current salary is pretty big already by Philippine standards.

When I was younger i could have worked abroad in the IT field and get at least four times more than what I earned in the local IT company with less hours on the clock too.

[flakez]

Assume 12 to 15 years of service on average.

Would that be enough?

You have to remember these people are highly trained and have a lot of responsibility on their shoulders everytime they take off in their planes. Long hours and time away from family as well.

The airline has to compensate them properly if not they will just go elsewhere for better pay. It is just human to want to be paid what you are worth even if your current salary is pretty big already by Philippine standards.

When I was younger i could have worked abroad in the IT field and get at least four times more than what I earned in the local IT company with less hours on the clock too.

nawala sa isip ko. nasa range din pala ng seaman yan. and to think mas mura siguro maging seaman.

gaano ba katagal usually bago makabalik sa pamilya? tuwing kelan ang off? average seaman kasi nasa 9 months kada sakay. tapos after 2-3 months ung next na sakay, minsan mas maaga kung meron na at gusto na ulit sumakay.

[garfield_08]

magkano ba magpaaral ng pilot? nasa 20m ba para humingi sila ng 1m a month?

i agree. how much nga ba would one need to be a commercial pilot? kasi 500k for a monthly salary is way above the mean salary of professionals here in the Phils.

[istan]

Training to become a pilot is an expensive affair. Tuition fees run to the millions.
Then there's certification tests every 6 months that cost a lot. Simulator training for a particular aircraft costs a lot. You have to under go simulator training for every aircraft you want to handle. Ex. if you want 747-400s and A320s, you have to study both of them. Hinde pwede 747-400s lng simulator mo, then drive ka ng A320. Parang doctor. If you're specialized in cardio, you can't do neuro.

Also its not an assurance that if you graduate, there's jobs waiting for you.
Remember, when you graduate, you have no actual experience. You must go cadetship w/c have lower pay. Cadet ship run for years, until you have enough hours to upgrade to FO. If every may bakanteng FO position. So how do you pay off your debts, unless may support ka ng family, you can't.

Hence, justified yun big pay for pilots.
Also I heard that pilot bonds are the other way around. Pls do correct me if I'm wrong. Pilots pay the airline for the bond first, its held in an escrow account. Now if the pilot leaves, airline just gets that. Some pilots don't have cash, so they attach properties as lein.

[istan]

Check it out. Its a good read.
As in tutok sa puso ang mga comments.
http://www.pprune.org/south-asia-far...exodus-56.html

[airspeed alive]

400k-500k? mahirap lumipad, if you think na simpleng profession lang sya, i tell you "hindi". Stresses of flying, kupal na management, politika sa loob ng airlines, madaming babae(haha), dapat in good condition of health. you can`t blame them to go abroad....at walang karapatan ang mga pilots, but to think na ang PAL anytime pwedeng mag tanggal ng kahit sinong empleyado nila without early notice...mahirap sa aviation industry lalo na sa pinas..at piloto lang ata ang profession na hinahabol pa ng mga bossing pag nagasalbalutan na...hahaha... well..i just need to comment about this.. i hope you have an idea now what pressure ths pilots have....PIloto e..

[CVT]

Ang sabi ng isang piloto sa interview kagabi sa AM Radio 630,- gagawin silang redundant sa PAL,- tapos ililipat sa Air Philippines kung saan mas mababa ang suweldo at wala pang benepisyo,- ito raw ang kanilang hinaing sa Management.... Noong una raw 11, and then nasundan pa and then masusundan pa ng ililipat.... Kaya, takot na ang mga piloto....

Tapos, iyong isang opisyal ng PAL,- sinabing,- ililipat nga raw sila sa Air Philippines,- pero ang gagawin ay empleyado pa rin sila ng PAL,- meaning, walang bawas sa suweldo at benepisyo....

10.5K:band:

[Horsepower]

excerpt from Sir Istan's link:

Today, a lot of PAL flights were cancelled, both domestic and regional flights were affected. The reason given, NO AVAILABLE CREW TO FLY THE PLANES!

Real score why pilots are leaving.

Last October 2009, the service contracts of 4 Captains (who are above 60 years old), namely De Dios, De la Cruz, Guttierez and Roma were terminated. The reason given was redundancy. 2 of these pilots were due to end their contracts, one in about 3 months time, and the other in about 6 months.

This event had the young pilots thinking, if this could be done to the old guys, it could easily be done to them as well ( 2 in the group who were terminated were returnees for the company during the strike). Because of this, as early as November last year, there were already some guys who applied for jobs somewhere else.

Then come February this year, 11 senior Captains and 7 of the most junior First Officers were given the same treatment. Again the reason was redundancy, when at that time, the average flying time was around 90 hours. The real reason was, they were going to open a Low Cost Carrier at Airphil, using the A320s, to counter the surging dominance of Cebu Pacific in the domestic as well as regional routes. Passenger market share was already 60% for Cebu Pac and 40% for PAL.

So, by late March this year, two of the A320 from the PAL fleet were transferred to Airphil together with the 11 elder captains plus 7 young first officers. Thrown to the other side of the fence to fly the planes, with compensation around half of what they used to get. Maybe PAL management's reasoning was, "... wala namang mapupuntahan ang mga iyan!"("...those guys don't have anywhere else to go to!")

Info leaked out that planes and pilots will be transferred from PAL to Airphil. It was announced during the Inaugural flight that 20 A320s is the initial target. In fact, there will be 4 brand new planes to be delivered between September to November, then another set next year.

This got the pilots thinking, where will they get the pilots to fly them?
The obvious answer was, from PAL. So the info was for real!

Knowing fully well what the working conditions and compensation are waiting for them at the other side of the fence, the A320 people started to explore other options before they got hit.

Although the compensation outside is may be bigger, the present pay scale may seem to be substantial, what with all the incentives that were packaged because of the last exodus. The real reason for this exodus is, the pilots (who have not union nor collective bargaining agreement to protect themselves), cannot take the "pambrabraso" (strong arm tactics) anymore. If they don't have security of tenure at PAL, then it would be a lot better to work elsewhere with the same unsecured job but with maybe better compensation.

Now, press releases from the company are again out to discredit the pilot group. Supposedly pilots are leaving and violating their contracts because of higher pay elsewhere. The veracity of PAL's claims is not accompanied by factual evidence and as it is intended, mask the true goings-on in the company and manipulate public opinion.

This is the score.

[mark_t]

Ako I side with the pilots.

They should be treated well.

Eh wala naman job security, bakit ka magpaka martir dyan.

You have to feed your cow if you don't want it to go to greener

pastures. Hindi naman mahirap intindihin. Palagay nyo ba me natanggap

mga piloto sa pag alis nila? Baka nakatipid pa ang PAL.

The objective of the whole program is to get as much people out,
That is the requirement of the buyer.

[shadow]

normal lang naman ang redundancy sa mga corporation eh, especially with the business climate the past few years. so I don't see anything wrong sa ginawa ng management. they need to stream line for the business to survive, kahit saan company meron redundancy ngayon.

for me mali yun ginawa ng mga pilots, kailangan talaga ng proper turn over kahit saan naman eh hinde yun pag submit ng resignation letter aalis na kaagad. meron process.

[niky]

normal lang naman ang redundancy sa mga corporation eh, especially with the business climate the past few years. so I don't see anything wrong sa ginawa ng management. they need to stream line for the business to survive, kahit saan company meron redundancy ngayon.

for me mali yun ginawa ng mga pilots, kailangan talaga ng proper turn over kahit saan naman eh hinde yun pag submit ng resignation letter aalis na kaagad. meron process.

Actually... some pilots are showing letters from PAL that are asking those pilots to go on voluntary leave without pay... with the contractual obligation that in their absence, they can only seek work at AirPhilippines.

If true... the contract is probably against the law... You can't force a person to sign a letter basically saying that they agree not to work! They would have to instead fire them and rehire them as AirPhilippines pilots. I guess PAL just didn't want to pay their separation fees, and wanted an easy source of pilots for AirPhilippines.

Not without precedent. The previous strike was about a similar contract argument, where PAL tried to force mandatory retirement at a certain number of flying hours... which I think was overturned in court.

I'd resign, too, if I worked for a company that tried to pull that off. There's a reason PAL is suffering... and it's not because of the employees themselves...

[tidus1203]

A budget airline is now RP's biggest airline...

Based on Civil Aeronautics Board data, Cebu Pacific overtook Philippine Airline’s passenger numbers in the first quarter of 2010, making it the largest airline in the Philippines.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquire...argest-airline

[CVT]

And they're not keen on servicing those routes which were stopped by PAL because of the current pilot issue.....

10.5K:band:

[claRkEnt]

normal lang naman ang redundancy sa mga corporation eh, especially with the business climate the past few years. so I don't see anything wrong sa ginawa ng management. they need to stream line for the business to survive, kahit saan company meron redundancy ngayon.

for me mali yun ginawa ng mga pilots, kailangan talaga ng proper turn over kahit saan naman eh hinde yun pag submit ng resignation letter aalis na kaagad. meron process.

there's this pilot na kasama dun sa mga nag-resign. He was interviewed over the radio and the day after he resigned sa PAL, he reported na to his new job. very unprofessional, imo.

[flakez]

there's this pilot na kasama dun sa mga nag-resign. He was interviewed over the radio and the day after he resigned sa PAL, he reported na to his new job. very unprofessional, imo.

yan din mali sa ginawa nila. kahit pa panget pamamalakad ng management sana nag resign sila ng maayos. para din wala ng magawa pa yung PAL since walang problema sa resignation na ginawa nila.

[CVT]

there's this pilot na kasama dun sa mga nag-resign. He was interviewed over the radio and the day after he resigned sa PAL, he reported na to his new job. very unprofessional, imo.

I am quite certain that there is a required x-days' notice for resignations.

This should have been strictly adhered to by the pilots...

10.5K:band:

[Monseratto]

Can PAL sue the company that hired these pilots? Can their flying licenses be suspended pending a court case?

[chua_riwap]

German pilots na......



http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/me...foreign-pilots

PAL plans to hire foreign pilots


MANILA, Philippines – Philippine Airlines (PAL) plans to hire foreign pilots to meet a shortage in the flag carrier caused by the sudden exodus of some of its pilots.

PAL President Jaime Bautista said Saturday they are looking at various solutions following the move of 26 pilots to suddenly leave the company to join foreign airlines.

“Isa yan sa mga option. Merong lumalapit sa amin,” he said. “May mga Germans na gustong magkaroon pa ng pagkakataon na lumipad sa Pilipinas.”

He added that the flag carrier will enlist foreign pilots’ services only if they accept PAL’s wage levels, which are lower compared to other airline companies.

He said PAL is currently training local pilots who will replace those who suddenly resigned without giving the required 180-day notice.

A total of 38 flights were cancelled between July 29 to August 3 after the 26 out of PAL's 473 pilots left without notice.

Bautista said PAL’s operations have returned to normal, but these could be hampered again when the peak season for international travel enters in December.

However, a leader of the Airline Pilots' Association of the Philippines (ALPAP) as well as PAL's ground crew are opposing PAL’s plan to hire foreigners.

Capt. Amado Soliman, an associate member of ALPAP, said the plan is unrealistic. “Hindi maaari yan. I don't think a foreign pilot will be in his right mind to accept the conditions of PAL,” he said.

The PAL Employees Association (PALEA) also criticized the plan.

“Suntok sa buwan ang pinaplano ng PAL,” said PALEA President Gerardo Rivera.

PAL management, meanwhile, said it is ready to act if PALEA members and cabin crew belonging to the Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines (FASAP) decide to launch a strike.

PALEA has lashed out at the airline’s decision to outsource the operations of some of its departments such as catering, call center service, as well as cargo and passenger handling.

Around 2,800 affected employees are poised to join the strike.

The FASAP, on the other hand, has rejected an P80-million financial package offered by PAL management and is calling on the airline to raise the mandatory retirement age for flight attendants from the current level of 40. -- with a report from Israel Malasa, ABS-CBN News

[tidus1203]

Pahiya ang labor union ah! Sige welga kayo, may pilot naman na foreigner na payag lumipad para samin! hahaha