Early last week, my wife and I returned to Hong Kong from a 10-day visit to the Philippines. We narrowly escaped inconveniences natural and man-made; cancelled flights due to typhoon and labor dispute almost cost our short vacation. Just after arriving in Davao, we learned that the next flight was diverted to another airport due to poor visibility. Shortly after, pilots of Philippine Airlines left their posts in haste. It resulted to stranding of passengers and prompting cancellation of domestic and international flights, including the route we fly.
While aboard the plane, I read Malaya Business Insight with news headline “Labor clouds PAL future”. The article highlighted Philippine Airlines as an overstaffed company that averaged 192 employees per aircraft when others only have between 100 to 120. I looked around and I indeed saw quite a number of flight attendants assisting passengers recline their seats or handing out blankets. But at the same time, I realized I was boarding Boeing 747-400 which accommodates much more than the A320 Cebu Pacific flights I often fly. Therefore more staff is needed to attend to passengers.
As Philippine Airlines struggle to survive these years, it’s not surprising to learn cabin attendants receive salaries lower than the mandated minimum wage law. No wonder that its pilots easily gets poached by foreign airlines. The pay must be in multiples of existing salary that even with PAL’s legal threat associated with a large sum of money these pilots may have no problem of raising it.
However, the labor dispute is not limited to cash-strapped and blacklisted Philippine Airlines. Dragonair, a subsidiary of Cathay Pacific has its own set of disputes with its employees, who allege that improving profits do not translate corresponding benefits for staff. Increased profit margins results from full capacity flights. Such situations results to last minute requests for extra shifts and extended working hours for flight attendants. Out of frustration, disgruntled staff crafted a slogan “Dragon Air, Never Fair” as they rallied at the airport calling for better working conditions.
On one angle, I thought that those extra hours put in by airline staff contributed to better profits; therefore they ought to receive some sort of reward for keeping up the good work. On the other side of the fence, airlines could argue that by signing their working contracts, employees are bound to receive the agreed remuneration regardless when the company is in pretty good shape or on a brink of bankruptcy.
“We are just asking for basic human rights. Cabin crew – they are working more than 10 hours a day. They don’t even have 10 minutes for meals or to go to the toilet. We are requesting more manpower from the company and a backup roster,” said Winnie Poon, chairwoman of the Dragon Airlines Flight Attendants Association.
Unlike budget airlines who skip doing basic services such as distributing newspaper and blankets, five Dragonair staff provide full services to 200 passengers such as serving meals and sell duty free items even for short trips like the 30-minute route between Hong Kong and Guangzhou. For longer flights, flight attendants even suffer urinary tract infections because they prioritize passengers over themselves in using the toilets. Such plight of flight attendants could make their jobs unappealing to aspiring stewards and stewardesses. But not all think it’s all that bad.
During an interview by ABS-CBN, a Philippine Airline cabin attendant who received a little over 8,000 pesos monthly salary said being a flight attendant at the country’s (and Asia’s) first airline is something to be proud of, nothwithstanding the paltry benefits and job insecurity. She may not share the same sentiment with colleagues, but at least Philippine Airlines would be thankful that it still has loyal, if not underpaid, employees.
