AUGUST 3, 2015

COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

In simplest sense, means negotiation towards a CBA

CBA a contract between the ER and CB agent regarding hours of work,

wages, and other terms and conditions of employment

Primary purpose of CBA:

o
Stabilize labor management relations
WHO CAN NEGOTIATE A CBA WITH THE EMPLOYER?

Only a recognized or certified collective bargaining agent can negotiate a

CBA with an employer

You would notice that it not just enough for the employees to organize a
union, not enough for the union to be registered; it is further required that the
union apart from being registered and being a LLO should be RECOGNIZED
OR CERTIFIED as collective bargaining agent
WHO CAN BE RECOGNIZED OR CERTIFIED AS CB AGENT?

Only a legitimate labor organization

Take note that the law says COLLECTIVE BARGAINING individual

employees or even a group of employees cannot CB

HOWEVER, individual employees or a group of employees can present their

grievances at any time to their employer

Art 267
COLLECTIVE BARGAINING IS A MUTUAL OBLIGATION

It is the obligation of both the ER and EEs thru their representatives

Such that the ER or the CB representative cannot refuse to CB with each

other

But even as the duty to BC is a mutual obligation the ER is not required to

initiate the CBA negotiations

Apart from that, CB does not compel any party to agree to a proposal or to
give concession to the other CB merely obliges the ER and CB rep to
meet in GF for the purpose of negotiating a CBA

So, all that is required is for the parties to meet with an open mind and make
effort to reach an agreement
WHEN WILL AN ER BE OBLIGED TO BARGAIN COLLECTIVELY? WHEN WILL
THE DUTY TO BARGAIN COLLECTIVELY ARISE/EXIST?

Only when the union which seeks to negotiate with it is:

1. A legitimate labor organization
2. Composed of employees of the supposed employer and

3.

Certified by the DOLE as the exclusive collective bargaining

representative

An employer who refuses to sit down with a LO who is not the exclusive BR
= X ULP by employer

Union must be composed of employees of supposed employer Duty to BC

exists only between ER and EE

Union which seeks to bargain collectively must be chosen my the MAJORITY

of the members in collective bargaining unit

???
COLLECTIVE BARGAINING UNIT

Different from union

X the union

The union is the organization

The unit is the employees whom the union will represent

A collective bargaining unit

o
Group of employees who share mutual interests within a given
employer unit
o
It may be comprised of all members in the same grouping
o
It may be comprised of a particular occupation grouping
o
Or any geographic grouping which such employer
o
Some of the members of the BU may be non-union members

Unless they are among those who are excluded such as

confidential employees

Example 1:
o
In a company, it is common for it to have three types of employees:

Managerial

Supervisory

Rank and File

o
Where is the bargaining unit?

It may be composed of all the rank and file

Or all of the supervisors

Or employees within a geographical area

Example: San Mig has a plant in Manila and in

Cebu. So the Manila plant may be composed of
a single BU and the Cebu plant, another BU

Example 2:
o
In a school, teaching personnel and non-teaching personnel
o
Of course, all of them are rank and file but they cannot be in one
BU
o
1 BU for the teaching personnel
o
1 BU for the non-teaching personnel

Example 3:
o
In an airline, ground personnel, cabin crew, pilots
o
1 BU for ground personnel
o
1 BU for cabin crew
o
1 BU for pilots
WHY?
o
Because the employees do not share mutual interest.
o
Pilots have different interests from that of ground personnel

WHAT IS AN APPROPRIATE BARGAINING UNIT? (267)

Law does not define

Group of employees of a given employer comprised of all or less than all of

the entire body of employees which indicate to best suited to serve their
rights and duties

Employees must have substantial mutual interest in wages, hours of work

and other working conditions

Example of INAPPROPRIATE BU
o
Mixture of supervisors and R&F because they cannot be lumped
together in one union

But the mere fact that a certain group of employees have different functions
from another group of employees does not warrant the creation of different
BU because it is the nature of a corporation to have different groups with
different functions

TOYOTA MOTORS
o
Supervisors and R&F employees union formed = BU =
inappropriate

PHILIPPINE PHOSPHATE
o
Union sought to be certified as the union for supervisors
o
But out of 360 employees sought to be represented, only 125 are
supervisors. The rest are non-supervisors performing technical
function
o
Held:

Inappropriate BU

Because the technical personnel outnumbered the

MEDICA CORPORATION
o
Employees sought to represent livestock division and cinema
division
o
Held:

NO!

Inappropriate BU

Because the interest of the livestock division is different

form the supermarket and cinema division

WHAT ARE THE CRITERIA FOR FIXING THE BU? (4)

1. GLOBE DOCTRINE

Will/desire of the employees is the criteria to be followed

Doctrine sanctions the holding of a plebiscite or election for the purpose

of determining whether the employees decide to be organized into
separate units

MANILA RAILROAD CASE

o
Union of kapisanan sought to represent the whole of the R&F
employees
o
So, the defunct CIR rendered a decision fixing three BU

1 for agent crew

1 for train crew

The others for the other personnel

o
Management and union disagreed with decision of CIR
o
So, what the CIR did was to call an election/plebiscite for the
purpose of determining whether the agent crew, train crew or
other personnel desire to have different BU or to have 1 BU
o
SC:

Upheld decision of CIR to call a plebiscite to

determine the will of the employees
2. COMMUNITY OF INTEREST/SUBSTANTIAL MUTUAL INTEREST RULE

Main consideration is the AFFINITY and UNITY of the employees interest

Such as:
o
Similarity of work and duties
o
Similarity of working conditions
o
ALHAMBRA CIGAR CASE

Alhambra cigar has 8 departments

Packing department

Cigar department

Engineering Department

Sales department

Dispensary department doctors and nurses

???

???

???

These employees were represented by a single union

There came a time when another union filed a

certification for the administrative, sales and dispensary
department

Incumbent union opposed saying that there should only

be 1 BU

SC:

The BU composed of the admin, sales and

dispensary department = INAPPROPRIATE BU

Because the functions they perform are different

from the functions performed by the production
department
UP VS CALLEJA

SC:

It is not proper to create a single BU for

academic and non-academic personnel

Because of the absence of mutuality of interest

3.

4.

SIMILARITY OF EMPLOYMENT STATUS

Main consideration is

Non regular employees should be separate from the regular employees

PLASLU vs CIR
o
During the certification election, 242+ ballots were questioned by
PLASLU on the ground that they were cast by non-regular
employees
o
242 were in favor of AWA
o
SC:

242 votes should not have been counted in favor of AWA

because they were cast by non-regular employees
whereas AWA was representing regular employees
PRIOR COLLECTIVE BARGAINING HISTORY

May be disregarded if the circumstances have been so altered

NAFTU CASE
o
Sawmill division and logging division were considered as 2
different BU
o
There came a time when another union filed a petition for CE
among the R&F employees of the sawmill and logging division
A certification election was conducted
o
SC:

2 units may now be considered a single BU because the

circumstances prevailing has changed

ONE UNION-ONE COMPANY POLICY

Because if there are too many unions in the company, it weakens the
bargaining power of the unions

Exceptions:
1. Supervisors organize themselves in a separate union from the rank and
file
2. When the employer unit has to give way to other bargaining units such
as craft units

Example: 3 BU pilots, cabin crew, ground personnel X

feasible to make 1 BU for those 3 classes of employees
3. When a certain class of employees are excluded from the existing
BU

MEAT JOY CASE

o
Union represented only the daily paid rank and file
o
There came a time when the monthly paid organized
themselves as a separate union
o
Daily paid rank union objected raising one union
one company policy
o
SC:

Monthly paid employees can organize

their own union because they were
excluded from the existing BU
ND#@HLDJ@H#OO:@#????

Because if there are too many unions in the company, it weakens the
bargaining power of the unions

NO!

The two corporations have different personalities

Each corporation should be treated as separate bargaining units even if

their business are not related

Even if the same persons in the other company

Even if the same compound

Case: SAN MIGUEL CORPORATION

o
SAN MIG HAS 4 DIVISIONS

Magnolia division

Agri business division

_____

_____
o
When the CBA expired, the San Miguel employees association still
wanted to include Magnolia and San Mig Foods
o
SC: