TOPIC: Right to Self-Organization

DOCTRINE/PRINCIPLE:
“Members of religious sects who prohibit their members from joining associations cannot
be compelled or coerced to join labor unions even when said unions have closed shop
agreements with their employers.”

CASE TITLE:
SABINA BASA, BONIFACIO BASA, BONIFACIO CABALHIN and PRIMlTIVO
GALLARDO, Plaintiffs-Appellees, vs. FEDERACION OBRERA DE LA INDUSTRIA
TABAQUERA Y OTROS TRABAJADORES DE FILIPINAS (FOITAF) and LA DICHA LA
PAZ Y BUEN VIAJE CIGAR AND CIGARETTE FACTORY, Defendants.
G.R. No. L-27113, November 19, 1974

FACTS:
Plaintiffs-appellees Sabina Basa, Bonifacio Basa, Bonifacio Cabalhin and Primitivo
Gallardo, who are members of "Iglesia ni Cristo", are employees of the defendant
company, La Dicha La Paz y Buen Viaje Cigar and Cigarette Factory.

A collective bargaining contract between the Company and the defendant Union,
Federacion Obrera de la Industria Tabaquera y Otros Trabajadores de Filipinas (FOITAF)
was executed. This agreement provided for a union shop clause, thus: "RECOGNITION
AND UNION SECURITY: (2) All workers and laborers who are members of the FOITAF
shall remain and maintain their membership in good standing in the Union as a condition
of their continued employment with the Company. New workers whom the Management
may employ shall, as a condition of continued employment with the company, become
members of the FOITAF after 60 working days of continuous employment."

While being a member in good standing, Plaintiff-appellees formally resigned from the
Union invoking their constitutional right to freedom of religion, the free exercise of which
exempts them from being compelled to join any labor organization, when such is contrary
to their religious beliefs and convictions, as provided by Republic Act No. 3350.

The Union, through its president Severino Tabalno, gave them fifteen (15) days from
receipt of said letter to reconsider their resignation, otherwise it would ask the Company
to enforce the above-quoted union shop agreement. The Company, through its president
Bienvenido A. Tan, Jr., formally gave the plaintiffs-appellees up to October 23, 1964
within which to reaffiliate with the Union on pain of dismissal.

Instead of reconsidering their resignation, the Plaintiffs-appellees filed the present action
for injunction before Court of First Instance, Branch IV, Quezon City, which Court
rendered the decision enjoining the defendant Company from dismissing the plaintiffs.
From the aforesaid decision, defendant Union appealed to the Supreme Court, contending
that the lower court erred in not declaring Republic Act No. 3350 as unconstitutional.

ISSUE:
WON Republic Act No. 3350 is unconstitutional as it abridges the freedom of workers to
form associations.

HELD:
The SC held that R.A. No 3350 is constitutional.

The right to refrain from joining labor organizations recognized by Section 3 of the
Industrial Peace Act is, however, limited. The legal protection granted to such right to
refrain from joining is withdrawn by operation of law, where a labor union and an
employer have agreed on a closed shop, by virtue of which the employer may employ
only members of the collective bargaining union, and the employees must continue to be
members of the union for the duration of the contract in order to keep their jobs.

However, Republic Act No. 3350 introduced an exception, when it added to Section 4[a]
(4) of the Industrial Peace Act the following proviso: ‘but such agreement shall not cover
members of any religious sects which prohibit affiliation of their members in any such
labor organization’. Republic Act No. 3350 merely excludes ipso jure from the application
and coverage of the closed shop agreement the employees belonging to any religious
sects which prohibit affiliation of their members with any labor organization. What the
exception provides, therefore, is that members of said religious sects cannot be
compelled or coerced to join labor unions even when said unions have closed shop
agreements with the employers; that in spite of any closed shop agreement, members of
said religious sects cannot be refused employment or dismissed from their jobs on the
sole ground that they are not members of the collective bargaining union. It is clear,
therefore, that the assailed Act, far from infringing the constitutional provision on
freedom of association, upholds and reinforces it. It does not prohibit the members of
said religious sects from affiliating with labor unions. It still leaves to said members the
liberty and the power to affiliate, or not to affiliate, with labor unions. If, notwithstanding
their religious beliefs, the members of said religious sects prefer to sign up with the labor
union, they can do so. If in deference and fealty to their religious faith, they refuse to
sign up, they can do so; the law does not coerce them to join; neither does the law
prohibit them from joining; and neither may the employer or labor union compel them to
join. Republic Act No. 3350, therefore, does not violate the constitutional provision on
freedom of association.