MANILA, Philippines – The Pope who breaks protocols, calls strangers on the phone, and fights for the dignity of workers has personally received a letter from former Philippine Airlines (PAL) employees caught in a two-year labor dispute.

Fr Edwin Gariguez, an official of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines’ (CBCP) social arm, delivered the letter to Pope Francis in Vatican City, the CBCP news service said Friday, October 4.

In their letter, PAL Employees’ Association (PALEA) president Gerry Rivera requested help “to restore justice to the working people.” He said, “Unfortunately, the talks have not yet led to a settlement that is fair and just to the workers.”

Rivera said, “Thus we seek the intercession of Your Holiness to achieve a just conclusion to the labor dispute. As the only majority Christian nation in Asia, we deem an appeal from Your Holiness to the stakeholders involved in the dispute – our employer Philippine Airlines and the government of the Republic of the Philippines – will exercise moral suasion and may prove decisive in a settlement fair to the workers.”

Gariguez, who is attending a Vatican conference on peace, recounted his meeting with Francis in an e-mail quoted by CBCP News. He is the executive secretary of the CBCP’s National Secretariat for Social Action-Justice and Peace.

Gariguez said, “When I came face to face with him, I greeted the Holy Father by saying that he is very much loved in the Philippines, and a labor group who had been on strike for two years wants to send him a letter. And the Pope just said, ‘Thank you!’ And I cannot forget his warm and gentle smile.'”

“The good news is, I was able to successfully deliver the letter to the Pope,” he added.

Up to 2,600 PAL employees lost their jobs in September 2011 after PAL decided to outsource its in-flight services. Union members, some of whom have worked at PAL for over 3 decades, refused to accept severance packages and picketed outside PAL’s office in Pasay City.

In turn, PAL filed criminal charges against PALEA members for paralyzing its operations in late 2011.

READ/WATCH: Pasko ng PALEA

In PALEA’s letter, Rivera said PAL’s outsourcing scheme “is in contravention of the social teachings of the Church, which preaches the supremacy of labor over capital.”

“The teachings of the Church and the ideas of Your Holiness give us strength to carry on our advocacy to be reinstated back to our regular jobs,” the letter said.

‘No work, no dignity’

Bypassing his secretaries, Francis has personally responded to calls and letters from strangers since his election in March.

READ: ‘Hello, it’s the pope’: Francis calls student

The Pope, however, has shied away from taking specific positions on local political or labor issues.

In any case, he has made himself clear about the value of work in promoting dignity. In an interview published on Tuesday, October 1, he said youth unemployment is among “the most serious of the evils that afflict the world these days.”

READ: Pope to return ‘Vatican-centric’ Church to people

Before this, in a stinging off-the-cuff speech last September 20, Francis denounced the global economy “that has at its center an idol called money.” He said the unemployed suffer because of this idolatry.

“Where there is no work, there is no dignity,” Francis said.

On Labor Day, May 1, the Pope also said Jesus, who came into the world as a carpenter’s son, “reminds us of the dignity and importance of work.”

He said: “Work is part of God’s loving plan; we are called to cultivate and care for all the goods of creation and in this way share in the work of creation! Work is fundamental to the dignity of a person. Work, to use a metaphor, ‘anoints’ us with dignity, fills us with dignity, makes us similar to God, who has worked and still works, who always acts; it gives one the ability to maintain oneself, one’s family, to contribute to the growth of one’s own nation.”

“And here I think of the difficulties which, in various countries, today afflict the world of work and business today; I am thinking of how many, and not only young people, are unemployed, often due to a purely economic conception of society, which seeks profit selfishly, beyond the parameters of social justice.”

The Pope urged public officials “to make every effort to give new impetus to employment.”

Then he turned to the unemployed: “But above all I would say do not lose hope.” – Rappler.com