 National Mines and Allied Worker’ Union (NAMAWU- most effective and expeditious way to determine which

MIF) v. Sec of Labor, FFW-SMQZZ & Quality labor organization can truly represent the working force in
Container, Corp, 227 SCRA 821 (1992) the appropriate bargaining unit of the company
- Issue: W/N the Sec of Labor committed Grave abuse of
discretion ordering the Certification election because 4. Substantial Support / Simultaneous Submission (Directory)
the first and second petitions, the signatures of the 141
employees, who signified their support thereto, were  Oriental Tin Can Labor Union v. Secretary of Labor
either forged or pre-maturely obtained prior to the 60- (1998)
day period before the expiration of the existing - Whether or not the 25% support requirement was
collective bargaining agreementNO met YES

 The fact that the list of signatures is undated does not
necessarily mean that the signatures were obtained prior to
the 60-day period before the expiration of the existing
collective bargaining agreement.
 What is important is that the petition for certification
election must be filed during the freedom period and that
the 25% requirement of supporting signatures be met upon
the filing
 In this case, these requirements have been compiled by \
FFW-SMQCC in their first and second petitions, and it
was thus incumbent upon the Med-Arbiter to order a
certification election to be conducted among the rank and
file employees of the company
 If indeed there are employees in the bargaining unit who
refused to be represented by respondent FFW-SMQCC,
with all the more reason should a certification election be
held where the employees themselves can freely and
voluntarily express by secret ballot their choice of
bargaining representative. A certification election is the
 With regard to the finding that the "waiver" document
executed by the employees "was the product of duress,
force and intimidation employed by the company after it
learned of the petition for certification election," In the
case of Belyca Corporation v. Ferrer-Calleja, the court
held:
o “. . . Even doubts as to the required 30% being met
warrant (the) holding of the certification election.
In fact, once the required percentage
requirement has been reached, the employees'
withdrawal from union membership taking
place after the filing of the petition for
certification election will not affect the petition.
On the contrary, the presumption arises that the
withdrawal was not free but was procured through
duress, coercion or for a valuable consideration.
Hence, the subsequent disaffiliation of the six (6)
employees from the union will not be counted
against or deducted from the previous number who
had signed up for certification . . .”
 The support requirement is a mere technicality which  The selection by the majority of the employees of the
should be employed in determining the true will of the union which would best represent them in the CBA
workers instead of frustrating the same. negotiations should be achieved through the democratic
process of an election.
o (PWUP) v. Laguesma: “In line with the policy that
holding of a CE is a certain and definitive mode of
arriving at the choice of employees’ bargaining
representative the administrative rule requiring the
simultaneous submission of the 25% consent
signatures upon the filing of the petition for
certification election should not be strictly
applied to frustrate the determination of the
legitimate representative of the workers.
Significantly, the requirement in the rule is not
found in Article 256, the law it seeks to implement.
This is all the more reason why the regulation
should at best be given only a directory effect.
Accordingly, we hold that the mere filing of a
petition for certification election within the
freedom period is sufficient basis for the issuance
of an order for the holding of a certification
election, subject to the submission of the consent
signatures within a reasonable period from such
filing.”

 All doubts as to the number of employees actually

supporting the holding of a certification election should,
therefore, be resolved by going through such procedure

 If the OTCLU wanted to be retained as the rank-and-file

employees' bargaining representative, it should have
sought their vote, not engaged in legal sophistry.