AUGUST 3, 2015 3.

Certified by the DOLE as the exclusive collective bargaining

representative
COLLECTIVE BARGAINING An employer who refuses to sit down with a LO who is not the exclusive BR
In simplest sense, means negotiation towards a CBA = X ULP by employer
CBA a contract between the ER and CB agent regarding hours of work, Union must be composed of employees of supposed employer Duty to BC
wages, and other terms and conditions of employment exists only between ER and EE
Primary purpose of CBA: Union which seeks to bargain collectively must be chosen my the
o Stabilize labor management relations MAJORITY of the members in collective bargaining unit
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WHO CAN NEGOTIATE A CBA WITH THE EMPLOYER? COLLECTIVE BARGAINING UNIT
Only a recognized or certified collective bargaining agent can negotiate a Different from union
CBA with an employer X the union
You would notice that it not just enough for the employees to organize a The union is the organization
union, not enough for the union to be registered; it is further required that the The unit is the employees whom the union will represent
union apart from being registered and being a LLO should be RECOGNIZED A collective bargaining unit
OR CERTIFIED as collective bargaining agent o Group of employees who share mutual interests within a given
employer unit
WHO CAN BE RECOGNIZED OR CERTIFIED AS CB AGENT? o It may be comprised of all members in the same grouping
Only a legitimate labor organization o It may be comprised of a particular occupation grouping
Take note that the law says COLLECTIVE BARGAINING individual o Or any geographic grouping which such employer
employees or even a group of employees cannot CB o Some of the members of the BU may be non-union members
HOWEVER, individual employees or a group of employees can present their Unless they are among those who are excluded such as
grievances at any time to their employer confidential employees
Art 267 Example 1:
o In a company, it is common for it to have three types of employees:
COLLECTIVE BARGAINING IS A MUTUAL OBLIGATION Managerial
It is the obligation of both the ER and EEs thru their representatives Supervisory
Such that the ER or the CB representative cannot refuse to CB with each Rank and File
other o Where is the bargaining unit?
But even as the duty to BC is a mutual obligation the ER is not required to It may be composed of all the rank and file
initiate the CBA negotiations Or all of the supervisors
Apart from that, CB does not compel any party to agree to a proposal or to Or employees within a geographical area
give concession to the other CB merely obliges the ER and CB rep to Example: San Mig has a plant in Manila and in
meet in GF for the purpose of negotiating a CBA Cebu. So the Manila plant may be composed of
So, all that is required is for the parties to meet with an open mind and make a single BU and the Cebu plant, another BU
effort to reach an agreement Example 2:
o In a school, teaching personnel and non-teaching personnel
WHEN WILL AN ER BE OBLIGED TO BARGAIN COLLECTIVELY? WHEN WILL o Of course, all of them are rank and file but they cannot be in one
THE DUTY TO BARGAIN COLLECTIVELY ARISE/EXIST? BU
Only when the union which seeks to negotiate with it is: o 1 BU for the teaching personnel
1. A legitimate labor organization o 1 BU for the non-teaching personnel
2. Composed of employees of the supposed employer and Example 3:
o In an airline, ground personnel, cabin crew, pilots
 o 1 BU for ground personnel Will/desire of the employees is the criteria to be followed
o 1 BU for cabin crew Doctrine sanctions the holding of a plebiscite or election for the purpose
o 1 BU for pilots of determining whether the employees decide to be organized into
WHY? separate units
o Because the employees do not share mutual interest. MANILA RAILROAD CASE
o Pilots have different interests from that of ground personnel o Union of kapisanan sought to represent the whole of the R&F
employees
WHAT IS AN APPROPRIATE BARGAINING UNIT? (267) o So, the defunct CIR rendered a decision fixing three BU
Law does not define 1 for agent crew
Group of employees of a given employer comprised of all or less than all of 1 for train crew
the entire body of employees which indicate to best suited to serve their The others for the other personnel
rights and duties o Management and union disagreed with decision of CIR
Employees must have substantial mutual interest in wages, hours of work o So, what the CIR did was to call an election/plebiscite for the
and other working conditions purpose of determining whether the agent crew, train crew or
Example of INAPPROPRIATE BU other personnel desire to have different BU or to have 1 BU
o Mixture of supervisors and R&F because they cannot be lumped o SC:
together in one union Upheld decision of CIR to call a plebiscite to
But the mere fact that a certain group of employees have different functions determine the will of the employees
from another group of employees does not warrant the creation of different 2. COMMUNITY OF INTEREST/SUBSTANTIAL MUTUAL INTEREST RULE
BU because it is the nature of a corporation to have different groups with Main consideration is the AFFINITY and UNITY of the employees interest
different functions Such as:
TOYOTA MOTORS o Similarity of work and duties
o Supervisors and R&F employees union formed = BU = o Similarity of working conditions
inappropriate o ALHAMBRA CIGAR CASE
PHILIPPINE PHOSPHATE Alhambra cigar has 8 departments
o Union sought to be certified as the union for supervisors Packing department
o But out of 360 employees sought to be represented, only 125 are Cigar department
supervisors. The rest are non-supervisors performing technical Engineering Department
function Sales department
o Held: Dispensary department doctors and nurses
Inappropriate BU ???
Because the technical personnel outnumbered the ???
MEDICA CORPORATION ???
o Employees sought to represent livestock division and cinema These employees were represented by a single union
division There came a time when another union filed a
o Held: certification for the administrative, sales and dispensary
NO! department
Inappropriate BU Incumbent union opposed saying that there should only
Because the interest of the livestock division is different be 1 BU
form the supermarket and cinema division SC:
The BU composed of the admin, sales and
WHAT ARE THE CRITERIA FOR FIXING THE BU? (4) dispensary department = INAPPROPRIATE BU
1. GLOBE DOCTRINE
 Because the functions they perform are different 3. When a certain class of employees are excluded from the existing
from the functions performed by the production BU
department MEAT JOY CASE
o UP VS CALLEJA o Union represented only the daily paid rank and file
SC: o There came a time when the monthly paid organized
It is not proper to create a single BU for themselves as a separate union
academic and non-academic personnel o Daily paid rank union objected raising one union
Because of the absence of mutuality of interest one company policy
o SC:
3. SIMILARITY OF EMPLOYMENT STATUS Monthly paid employees can organize
Main consideration is their own union because they were
Non regular employees should be separate from the regular employees excluded from the existing BU
PLASLU vs CIR
o During the certification election, 242+ ballots were questioned by ND#@HLDJ@H#OO:@#????
PLASLU on the ground that they were cast by non-regular Because if there are too many unions in the company, it weakens the
employees bargaining power of the unions
o 242 were in favor of AWA NO!
o SC: The two corporations have different personalities
242 votes should not have been counted in favor of AWA Each corporation should be treated as separate bargaining units even if
because they were cast by non-regular employees their business are not related
whereas AWA was representing regular employees Even if the same persons in the other company
4. PRIOR COLLECTIVE BARGAINING HISTORY Even if the same compound
May be disregarded if the circumstances have been so altered Case: SAN MIGUEL CORPORATION
NAFTU CASE o SAN MIG HAS 4 DIVISIONS
o Sawmill division and logging division were considered as 2 Magnolia division
different BU Agri business division
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 When the CBA expired, the San Miguel employees association still
o SC: wanted to include Magnolia and San Mig Foods
2 units may now be considered a single BU because the o SC:
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