STRIKES AND LOCKOUTS

Workers shall have the right to engage in concerted activities for purposes of
collective bargaining or for their mutual benefit and protection.

No labor union may strike and no employer may declare a lockout on grounds
involving inter-union and intra-union disputes.

IN CASES OF BARGAINING DEADLOCKS

(1) The duly certified or recognized bargaining agent may file a notice of strike, or
(2) The employer may file a notice of lockout with the Ministry at least 30 days
before the intended date.

IN CASES OF UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICE

The period of notice shall be 15 days.

IN CASE OF DISMISSAL FROM EMPLOYMENT OF UNION OFFICERS

The 15-day cooling-off period shall not apply and the union may take action
immediately.

DURING THE COOLING-OFF PERIOD

It shall be the duty of the Ministry of Labor to exert all efforts at mediation and
conciliation to effect a voluntary settlement.

A decision to declare a strike must be approved by a majority of the total

union membership in the bargaining unit concerned, obtained by secret ballot in
meetings or referenda.

A decision to declare a lockout must be approved by a majority of the board

of directors of the corporation or association or of the partners in a partnership.

When there exists a labor dispute causing or likely to cause a strike

or lockout in an industry indispensable to the national interest, the
Secretary of Labor and Employment and the President of the Philippines
may assume jurisdiction over the dispute in order to settle or terminate
the same.

Any worker whose employment has been terminated as a consequence of an

unlawful lockout shall be entitled to reinstatement with full backwages.

Any union officer who knowingly participates in an illegal strike and any
worker or union officer who knowingly participates in the commission of illegal acts
during a strike may be declared to have lost his employment status.

The mere participation of a worker in a lawful strike shall not constitute

sufficient ground for termination of his employment.

Jurisprudentially defined, concerted activity is one undertaken by two or

more employees, or by one on behalf of others.

CHARACTERISTICS OF A STRIKE
(1) There must be an established relationship between the strikers and the persons
against whom the strike is called;
(2) The relationship must be one of employer and employee;
(3) There is work stoppage, which stoppage is temporary;
(4) The work stoppage is done through concerted action of the employees;
(5) The striking group is a legitimate labor organization.

A Strike or Lock is recognized as a valid weapon in collective bargaining.

Dinglasan v. NLU, 98 Phil. 649

A lockout is unlawful where it is declared in order to defeat
organizational and bargaining rights of employees.
KINDS OF STRIKE
Strikes may be classified on the following bases:
(A) Extent
1. General strike extend over a whole community, province, state or country.
2. Local Strike is one undertaken by workers in a particular enterprise, locality.

(B) Nature of the Act

1. Strike proper
2. Sit-down strike occurs when a group of employees forcibly take over possession
of the property of a particular business.
3. Partial strike or a quickie strike, takes the form of intermittent, unannounced
work stoppage. It is used interchangeably with wildcat strike which is a work
stoppage that violates the labor contract and is not authorized by the union.

(C) Degree of Employee Interest

1. Primary strike refers to an original or initial strike. A strike for a raise in their
wages.
2. Secondary strike it exists where employees in concert refuse to assist or
cooperate with the allegedly unfair employers or their product.
3. Sympathetic strike is one in which the striking employees have no demands or
grievances of their own, but strike for the purpose of directly or indirectly aiding
others. It is illegal.

(D) Purpose or Nature of Employee Interest

1. Economic strike is intended to force wage and other concessions from the
employer, which he is not required by law to grant.
2. Unfair labor practice strike is called against the unfair labor practices of the
employer, usually for the purpose of making him desist from further committing
such practices.

Slowdown is a willful reduction in the rate of work by a group of employees for

the purpose of restricting the output of the employer.

A VALID STRIKE NEEDS A LABOR DISPUTE

A strike can validly take place only in the presence of and in relation to a labor
dispute between the employer and employees involved.

National Union of Workers in Hotels, etc. v. NLRC and Peninsula Hotel, G.R.
No. 125561 (1998)
An employer may lawfully discharge employees for participating in an
unjustifiable wildcat strike.

WELGA NG BAYAN (PEOPLES STRIKE)

A work stoppage in a particular enterprise due to a welga ng bayan is likewise
illegal. It affects numerous employers including a particular employer who has no
dispute with his employees.

AVOIDANCE OF STRIKE
Pacific measures or remedies must first be exhausted before employees may
stage a strike. Strikes and other coercive acts are deemed justified only when
peaceful alternatives have proved unfruitful in settling the dispute.

During a strike the employer-employee relationship is not terminated but

merely suspended as the work stoppage is not permanent but only temporary. Thus,
a striking employee is still an employee.

AN ILLEGAL STRIKE IS ONE:

(1) Which is contrary to specific prohibition of law; or
(2) Which violates a specific requirement of law; or
(3) Which is declared for an unlawful purpose; or
(4) Which employs unlawful means in the pursuit of its objective; or
(5) Which is declared in violation of an existing injunction; or
(6) Which is contrary to an existing agreement.

STRIKE a cessation of work by employees in an effort to get more favorable terms

for themselves.
LOCKOUT the temporary refusal of any employer to furnish work as a result of an
industrial or labor dispute.

COOLING-OFF PERIOD
In the face of union busting, the cooling-off period need not be observed and the
union may take action immediately after the strike vote is conducted and the results
submitted to the appropriate regional branch of the NCMB.

UNION BUSTING
Union busting refers to activities undertaken by employers, their proxies, and
governments to prevent workers from freely organizing, joining and maintaining
trade unions.
ELEMENTS
1. The union officers are being dismissed;
2. Those officers are the ones duly elected in accordance with the union by-laws;
and
3. The existence of the union is threatened.

DECLARATION OF STRIKE OR LOCKOUT

If the dispute unsettled after the lapse of the cooling-off period and the seven-
day reporting period. The labor union may strike or the employer may lockout its
workers.

A strike or walkout on the basis of grievances which have not been submitted
to the grievance committee is premature and illegal.

NON-STRIKEABLE ISSUES
(1) Inter-union or intra-union disputes;
(2) Violation of labor standards law;
(3) Any issue involving wage distortion;
(4) Cases pending at the DOLE regional offices, etc.
(5) Execution and enforcement of final orders, decisions, resolution or awards;
(6) Any issue covered by a no-strike commitment in a duly executed CBA.

CONVERSION DOCTRINE
A strike may start as economic and, as it progresses, become U.L.P., or vice-
versa.

COLLECTIVE BARGAINING DEADLOCK

The situation between the labor and the management of the company where
there is failure in the collective bargaining negotiations resulting in a stalemate.

GOOD-FAITH STRIKE
Jurisprudence dictates that a strike may be considered legal when the union
believed that the respondent company committed unfair labor acts and the
circumstances warranted such belief in good faith although subsequently such
allegation of unfair labor practices are found out as not true.

Philippine Metal Foundries, Inc. v. CIR, 90 SCRA 135 (1979)

A no-strike clause prohibition in a CBA is applicable only to economic
strike.

Lapanday Workers Union v. NLRC, 248 SCRA 95 (1995)

The rule now is that such requirements as the filing of a notice of
strike, strike vote, and notice given to the DOLE are mandatory in nature.
 It should be emphasized that the legal way to secure union recognition is not
through a strike, it is through certification election, or voluntary recognition by the
employer.

A minority union cannot demand collective bargaining with the employer

because such right properly belongs to the union that commands the majority.

Under the General Banking Law, the banking industry is hereby declared
as indispensable to the national interest.

REQUISITES OF A VALID STRIKE

(1) A notice of strike must be filed with the DOLE;
(2) A strike vote must be approved by a majority of the total union membership in
the bargaining unit;
(3) Notice must be given to the DOLE of the results of the voting.

An assumption and/or certification order of the Secretary of Labor

automatically results in a return-to-work order of all striking workers.

A strikers defiance of RTWO amounts to abandonment that justifies the

dismissal. The rule that to constitute abandonment of position there must be
concurrence of the intention to abandon and some overt act showing no more
interest in working does not apply.

NON-NATIONAL INTEREST CASES

The proper remedy to question the decisions or orders of the Secretary of Labor
is via Petition for Certiorari under Rule 65. An appeal erroneously presented to the
OP does not toll the running of the period for filing a petition for certiorari.

The law allows the parties, at any stage, to withdraw the case from
compulsory arbitration to bring it instead to a voluntary arbitrator.

PICKETING
It involves the presence of striking workers or their union brothers who pace
back and forth before the place of business of an employer in the hope of being able
to persuade peacefully other workers not to work in the establishment.

A picket, although peaceful and moving, may constitute illegal obstruction if

it effectively blocks the entry and exit points of the company premises.

The picketing of a private home is held improper. A home is not an industrial

or a business enterprise, that it is not acquired or maintained for pecuniary gain or
profit.

FORFEITURE OF REINSTATEMENT
It was held in one case that Because of the apparent lack of interest of the
strikers concerned as shown by their failure to report for work without justifiable
reason, we are constrained to declare them to have forfeited their right to
reinstatement.

GENERALLY, NO BACKWAGES IN STRIKE

In an economic strike, the strikers are not entitled to backwages on the principle
that a fair days wage accrues only for a fair days labor.

If the employers improper conduct was an initial cause of the strike,

all the strikers are entitled to reinstatement and to the dismissal of the
replacement employees wherever necessary.