Labor Relations

 Constitutional Basis
Art. II, Sec 2 – renunciation of war; international comity

Art. II, Sec. 10 – promotion of Social Justice
Art. II, Sec. 18 – Labor as a primary social economic force;
protect rights of workers and promote their welfare
Art. II, Sec. 8 – Right to form unions, associations, or
societies for purposes not contrary to law
Art. IXB, Sec.2(5) – Right to self-organization even to
government employees
 Constitutional Basis, cont.
Art. XIII, Sec. 3. - rights of all workers to self-
organization, collective bargaining and negotiations,
and peaceful concerted activities, including the right to
strike in accordance with law; regulate the relations
between workers and employers (among others)
Art. XIII, Sec. 14 – Rights of working women
 Statutory Basis
Art. 3 – Declration of Basic Policy
Art. 218 - Declaration of Policy
State Policy – MINIMIZE government

intervention in settling labor disputes.
 HOW?
 Collective bargaining
 Grievance machinery and voluntary arbitration
THUS – no court has the power to fix wages, rates of pay,

hours of work and other terms and conditions
NOTE however, that there are certain agencies which are

given the right to fix wages and terms and conditions --- but
they are merely mandated to set the MINIMUM
 Collective Bargaining
 defined as negotiations towards a collective
agreement, is one of the democratic frameworks
designed to stabilize the relation between labor
and management and to create a climate of sound
and stable industrial peace.
 It is a mutual responsibility of the employer and
the Union and is characterized as a legal
obligation.
 While it is a mutual obligation of the parties to bargain, the
employer, however, is not under any legal duty to initiate
contract negotiation. The mechanics of collective bargaining
is set in motion only when the following jurisdictional
preconditions are present, namely, (1) possession of the
status of majority representation of the employees'
representative in accordance with any of the means of
selection or designation provided for by the Labor Code; (2)
proof of majority representation; and (3) a demand to
bargain under Article 251, par. (a) of the New Labor
Code . ... all of which preconditions are undisputedly present
in the instant case.
 In line with the policy against government-
intervention is the anti-injunction policy,
especially with respect to right to self-
organization.
 As held in Caltex Filipino Manager and
Supervisors Association v. CIR; G.R. No. L-
30632-33, April 11, 1972
 It is well known that the scheme xxx for achieving
industrial peace rests essentially on a free and
private agreement between the employer and his
employees as to the terms and conditions under
which the employer is to give work and the
employees are to furnish labor, unhampered as far
as possible by judicial or administrative
intervention.
 The lawmaking body has virtually prohibited the
issuance of injunctive relief involving or growing
out of labor disputes.
 The prohibition to issue labor injunctions is
designed to give labor a comparable bargaining
power with capital and must be liberally
construed to that end . It is said that the
prohibition creates substantive and not purely
procedural law.
 There can be no injunction issued against any
strike except in only one instance, that is, when a
labor dispute arises in an industry indispensable to
the national interest and such dispute is certified
by the President of the Philippines to the Court of
Industrial Relations in compliance with Sec. 10 of
Republic Act No. 875. As a corollary to this, an
injunction in an uncertified case must be based on
the strict requirement See. 9 (d) of Republic Act
No. 875; the purpose of such injunction is not to
enjoin the strike itself, but only unlawful
activities.
 "Employer" includes any person acting in the interest of an
employer, directly or indirectly. The term shall not include
any labor organization or any of its officers or agents except
when acting as employer.
 "Employee" includes any person in the employ of an
employer. The term shall not be limited to the employees of
a particular employer, unless the Code so explicitly states. It
shall include any individual whose work has ceased as a
result of or in connection with any current labor dispute or
because of any unfair labor practice if he has not obtained
any other substantially equivalent and regular employment.
 In using the word "includes" and not "means",
Congress did not intend to give a complete
definition of "employer", but rather that such
definition should be complementary to what is
commonly understood as employer/employee.
Congress intended the term to be understood in
a broad meaning (Feati University v. Bautista,
18 SCRA 1191; G.R. No. L-21278, December
27, 1966 )
 "Labor organization" means any union or
association of employees which exists in whole or
in part for the purpose of collective bargaining or
of dealing with employers concerning terms and
conditions of employment.
 "Legitimate labor organization" means any labor
organization duly registered with the Department
of Labor and Employment, and includes any
branch or local thereof.
 "Labor dispute" includes any controversy or
matter concerning terms and conditions of
employment or the association or
representation of persons in negotiating, fixing,
maintaining, changing or arranging the terms
and conditions of employment, regardless of
whether the disputants stand in the proximate
relation of employer and employee.
 While it is SanMig's submission that no employer-employee
relationship exists between itself, on the one hand, and the
contractual workers of Lipercon and D'Rite on the other, a
labor dispute can nevertheless exist "regardless of whether
the disputants stand in the proximate relationship of
employer and employee" (Article 212 [1], Labor Code,
supra) provided the controversy concerns, among others, the
terms and conditions of employment or a "change" or
"arrangement" thereof (ibid). Put differently, and as defined
by law, the existence of a labor dispute is not negative by the
fact that the plaintiffs and defendants do not stand in the
proximate relation of employer and employee. (San Miguel
Corporation Employees Union v. Bersamira, G.R. No. L-
87700, June 13, 1990)
 Principle of Tripartism
 workers and employers shall, as far as practicable,
be represented in decision and policy-making
bodies of the government
 i.e., promote the principle of shared responsibility
between workers and employers and instituted
workers’ participation in policy and decision-
making processes affecting their rights and
benefits
 With tripartism as a policy, the government
encouraged the establishment of two national
umbrella sectoral organizations, namely, the
Employers Confederation of the Philippines
(ECOP) representing the employers and the
Trade Union Congress of the Philippines
(TUCP) the organized labor.

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 Constitutional Basis

Art. II, Sec 2 – renunciation of war; international comity

State Policy – MINIMIZE government

THUS – no court has the power to fix wages, rates of pay,

NOTE however, that there are certain agencies which are

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