MANILA PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS ASSOCIATION, FIDEL FABABIER MERLIN

ANONUEVO, MINDA GALANG and other teacher-members so numerous similarly situated

vs. HON. PERFECTO LAGUIO JR

A "mass action" was undertaken by some 800 public school teachers, among them members
of the petitioning associations to "dramatize and highlight" the teachers' plight resulting
from the alleged failure of the public authorities to act upon grievances that had time and
again been brought to the latter's attention. The petition alleges in great detail the character
and origins of those grievances as perceived by the petitioners, and the attempts to negotiate
their correction.

ISSUE: Are employees in the public service prohibited from forming unions and holding
strikes?

HELD: Employees in the public (civil) service, unlike those in the private sector, do not have
the right to strike, although guaranteed the right to self-organization, to petition Congress
for the betterment of employment terms and conditions and to negotiate with appropriate
government agencies for the improvement of such working conditions as are not fixed by
law.

Public school teachers have the right to peaceably assemble for redress of grievances but
NOT during class hours, for then this would be a strike, which is illegal for them.