Nature of the Mass Action Directed against DOLE after Assumption of

Jurisdiction by the Secretary of Labor

The right to strike, while constitutionally recognized, is not without legal

constrictions. Article 264 (a) of the Labor Code, as amended, provides:

Art. 264. Prohibited activities. – (a) x x x

No strike or lockout shall be declared after assumption of jurisdiction by the

President or the Secretary or after certification or submission of the dispute to
compulsory or voluntary arbitration or during the pendency of cases involving
the same grounds for the strike or lockout.

The Court has consistently ruled that once the Secretary of Labor assumes
jurisdiction over a labor dispute, such jurisdiction should not be interfered with by the
application of the coercive processes of a strike or lockout. A strike that is undertaken
despite the issuance by the Secretary of Labor of an assumption order and/or
certification is a prohibited activity and thus illegal.

Solid Bank Corporation vs. Solid Bank Union

The protest actions undertaken by the Union officials and members which include
“rally in front of the Office of the Secretary of Labor and Employment”, "mass leave" and
"protest action" at the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) office, "boycotted
regular work” in the provincial branches, and “picketed” the bank’s Head Office are not
valid and proper exercises of their right to assemble and ask government for redress of
their complaints, but are illegal strikes in breach of the Labor Code. The Union’s
position is weakened by the lack of permit from the City of Manila to hold "rallies."
Shrouded as demonstrations, they were in reality temporary stoppages of work
perpetrated through the concerted actions of the employees who deliberately failed to
report for work on the convenient excuse that they will hold a rally at the BLR and
DOLE.

Toyota Motor Phils. Corp. Workers Association vs. NLRC

While it may be conceded that there was no work disruption in the

two Toyota plants, the fact still remains that the Union and its members picketed and
performed concerted actions in front of the Company premises. This is a patent
violation of the assumption of jurisdiction and certification Order of the DOLE
Secretary, which ordered the parties to cease and desist from committing any act that
might lead to the worsening of an already deteriorated situation. While there are no
work stoppages, the pickets and concerted actions outside the plants have a
demoralizing and even chilling effect on the workers inside the plants and can be
considered as veiled threats of possible trouble to the workers when they go out of the
company premises after work and of impending disruption of operations to company
officials and even to customers in the days to come. The pictures presented
by Toyota undoubtedly show that the company officials and employees are being
intimidated and threatened by the strikers. In short, the Union, by its mass actions, has
inflamed an already volatile situation, which was explicitly proscribed by the DOLE
Secretarys Order.