Monday, March 11, 2019

7 BASIC THEORIES SUMMARIZING THE

LABOR CODE
Azucena (2013) reports that, when the Labor Code was issued in 1974, Blas F.
Ople, then Minister of Labor of President Marcos, explained that there are seven
innovative principles that spread throughout the entire composition of
Presidential Decree (PD) No. 442 , otherwise known as the Labor Code of the
Philippines, namely: national development; strikes and lockouts; speedy labor
justice; bargaining power; employment and unemployment; enforcement and
implementation; and, tripartism.

[1] NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. Labor relations must be made both

responsive and responsible to national development.

The State affirms labor as a primary social economic force. It shall protect the
rights of workers and promote their welfare. The State also recognizes the
indispensable role of the private sector, encourages private enterprise, and
provides incentives to needed investments.

In a case, the Supreme Court took the opportunity to reaffirm its concern for the
lowly worker who, often at the mercy of his employers, must look up to the law
for his protection. Fittingly, that law regards him with tenderness and even favor
and always with faith and hope in his capacity to help in shaping the nation's
future. It is error to take him for granted. He deserves our abiding respect. How
society treats him will determine whether the knife in his hands shall be a caring
tool for beauty and progress or an angry weapon of defiance and revenge. The
choice is obvious, of course. If we cherish him as we should, we must resolve to
lighten "the weight of centuries" of exploitation and disdain that bends his back
but does not bow his head. (G.R. No. L-58639)

[2] STRIKES AND LOCKOUTS. Labor laws or labor relations during a

period of national emergency must substitute rationality for
confrontation; therefore, strikes or lockouts give away to a rational
process which is arbitration.

The State shall guarantee the rights of all workers to self-organization, collective
bargaining and negotiations, and peaceful concerted activities, including
the right to strike in accordance with law. They shall be entitled to security of
tenure, humane conditions of work, and a living wage. They shall also participate
in policy and decision-making processes affecting their rights and benefits as may
be provided by law.

[3] SPEEDY LABOR JUSTICE. Laggard justice in the labor field is

injurious to the workers, the employers and the public; labor justice
can be made expeditious without sacrificing due process.
All persons shall have the right to a speedy disposition of their cases before all
judicial, quasi-judicial, or administrative bodies. P.D. No. 1367 amending certain
provisions of the Labor Code eliminated appeals to the President, but gave the
President the power to assume jurisdiction over any cases which he considered
national interest cases. The subsequent P.D. No. 1391, enacted "to insure speedy
labor justice and further stabilize industrial peace", further eliminated appeals
from the NLRC to the Secretary of Labor but the President still continued to
exercise his power to assume jurisdiction over any cases which he considered
national interest cases. (G.R. No. 123426)

The rationale of the law on voluntary arbitration is speedy labor justice. (G.R. No.
170054) In one case, the Supreme Court stressed that the Voluntary Arbitrator
had plenary jurisdiction and authority to interpret the agreement to arbitrate and
to determine the scope of his own authority subject only, in a proper case, to the
certiorari jurisdiction of this Court. The Arbitrator, as already indicated, viewed
his authority as embracing not merely the determination of the abstract question
of whether or not a performance bonus was to be granted but also, in the
affirmative case, the amount thereof. (G.R. No. 140960)

[4] BARGAINING POWER. Manpower development and employment

must be regarded as a major dimension of labor policy, for there can
be no real equality of bargaining power under conditions of severe
mass unemployment.

The State shall guarantee the rights of all workers to self-

organization, collective bargaining and negotiations, and peaceful concerted
activities, including the right to strike in accordance with law. They shall be
entitled to security of tenure, humane conditions of work, and a living wage. They
shall also participate in policy and decision-making processes affecting their
rights and benefits as may be provided by law.

It is unlawful for any person to restrain, coerce, discriminate against or unduly

interfere with employees and workers in their exercise of the right to self-
organization. Such right shall include the right to form, join, or assist labor
organizations for the purpose of collective bargaining through representatives of
their own choosing and to engage in lawful concerted activities for the same
purpose or for their mutual aid and protection, subject to the provisions of Article
264 of the Labor Code.
All employees enjoy the right to self-organization and to form and join labor
organizations of their own choosing for the purpose of collective bargaining and
to engage in concerted activities for their mutual aid or protection. This is a
fundamental right of labor that derives its existence from the Constitution. In
interpreting the protection to labor and social justice provisions of the
Constitution and the labor laws or rules or regulations, we have always adopted
the liberal approach which favors the exercise of labor rights. In one case, it was
crystal clear the monthly paid rank-and-file employees of petitioner have very
little in common with its daily paid rank-and file employees in terms of duties
and obligations, working conditions, salary rates, and skills. To be sure, the said
monthly paid rank-and-file employees have even been excluded from the
bargaining unit of the daily paid rank-and-file employees. This dissimilarity of
interests warrants the formation of a separate and distinct bargaining unit for the
monthly paid rank-and-file employees of the petitioner. To rule otherwise would
deny this distinct class of employees the right to self-organization for purposes of
collective bargaining. Without the shield of an organization, it will also expose
them to the exploitations of management. (G.R. Nos. 113204-05)

[5] UNEMPLOYMENT. There is a global labor market available to

qualified Filipinos, especially those who are unemployed or whose
employment is tantamount to unemployment because of their very
little earnings.

The State shall promote a just and dynamic social order that will ensure the
prosperity and independence of the nation and free the people from poverty
through policies that provide adequate social services, promote full employment,
a rising standard of living, and an improved quality of life for all. The State shall
afford full protection to labor, local and overseas, organized and unorganized,
and promote full employment and equality of employment opportunities for all.

Unemployment brings untold hardships and sorrows on those dependent on the

wage-earner. The misery and pain attendant on the los-, of jobs then could be
avoided if there be acceptance of the view that under all the circumstances of this
case, petitioners should not be deprived of their means of livelihood. Nor is this
to condone what had been done by them. For all this while, since private
respondent considered them separated from the service, they had not been paid.
For the strictly juridical standpoint, it cannot be too strongly stressed . . . that
where a decision may be made to rest on informed judgment rather than rigid
rules, all the equities of the case must be accorded their due weight. Finally, labor
law determinations should be not only secundum rationem but also secundum
caritatem. (G.R. No. L-54280)

[6] ENFORCEMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION. Labor laws must

command adequate resources and acquire a capable machinery for
effective and sustained implementation; otherwise, they merely breed
resentment not only of the workers but also of the employers. When
labor laws cannot be enforced, both the employers and the workers are penalized,
and only a corrupt few — those who are in charge of implementation — may get
the reward they do not deserve.

The Department of Labor and other government agencies charged with the
administration and enforcement of the Labor Code or any of its parts shall
promulgate the necessary implementing rules and regulations. Such rules and
regulations shall become effective fifteen (15) days after announcement of their
adoption in newspapers of general circulation

Among other powers, the Secretary of Labor and Employment or his duly
authorized representatives, including labor regulation officers, shall have access
to employer’s records and premises at any time of the day or night whenever
work is being undertaken therein, and the right to copy therefrom, to question
any employee and investigate any fact, condition or matter which may be
necessary to determine violations or which may aid in the enforcement of the
Labor Code and of any labor law, wage order or rules and regulations issued
pursuant thereto.

[7] TRIPARTISM. There should be popular participation in national

policy-making through what is now called tripartism.

Tripartism in labor relations is a State policy. Towards this end, workers and
employers shall, as far as practicable, be represented in decision and policy-
making bodies of the government. The Secretary of Labor and Employment or his
duly authorized representatives may, from time to time, call a national, regional,
or industrial tripartite conference of representatives of government, workers and
employers for the consideration and adoption of voluntary codes of principles
designed to promote industrial peace based on social justice or to align labor
movement relations with established priorities in economic and social
development. In calling such conference, the Secretary of Labor and Employment
may consult with accredited representatives of workers and employers. (Section
32. Republic Act No. 6715. March 21, 1989)

The discussion above is based on an outline by Azucena (2013). His books are
available in fine bookstores nationwide. SOURCE: Azucena, C. A. (2013). The
Labor Code: with Comments and Cases (Vol. 1). National Book Store.
https://www.rexestore.com/labor-standards/981-the-labor-code-with-
comments-and-cases-volume-i-revised-edition.html. He cites, as his primary
source, Blas F. Ople's speech, Frontiers of Social and Labor Policy; Personnel
Management Association of the Philippines, Proceedings of the Special
Conference on the Labor Code of the Philippines, June 1974.
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