CONSTITUTION:

Article II, Sec-18

State Policies

The State affirms labor as a primary social economic force. It shall protect the rights of
workers and promote their welfare.

Article III, Sec-8

Bill of Rights

The right of the people, including those employed in the public and private sectors, to
form unions, associations, or societies for purposes not contrary to law shall not be
abridged.

Article XIII, Sec-3

Labor

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.

It 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.
The State shall promote the principle of shared responsibility between workers and
employers and the preferential use of voluntary modes in settling disputes, including
conciliation, and shall enforce their mutual compliance therewith to foster industrial
peace.

The State shall regulate the relations between workers and employers, recognizing the
right of labor to its just share in the fruits of production and the right of enterprises to
reasonable returns to investments, and to expansion and growth.
LABOR CODE:

Presidential Decree No. 442, AS AMENDED May 1, 1974

PRELIMINARY TITLE

Chapter I
GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Name of Decree. This Decree shall be known as the "Labor Code of the
Philippines".

Article 2. Date of effectivity. This Code shall take effect six (6) months after its
promulgation.

Article 3. Declaration of basic policy. The State shall afford protection to labor, promote
full employment, ensure equal work opportunities regardless of sex, race or creed and
regulate the relations between workers and employers. The State shall assure the rights
of workers to self-organization, collective bargaining, security of tenure, and just and
humane conditions of work.

Article 4. Construction in favor of labor. All doubts in the implementation and

interpretation of the provisions of this Code, including its implementing rules and
regulations, shall be resolved in favor of labor.

Article 5. Rules and regulations. The Department of Labor and other government
agencies charged with the administration and enforcement of this 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.

Article 6. Applicability. All rights and benefits granted to workers under this Code shall,
except as may otherwise be provided herein, apply alike to all workers, whether
agricultural or non-agricultural. (As amended by Presidential Decree No. 570-A,
November 1, 1974)

BOOK FIVE
LABOR RELATIONS

Title I
POLICY AND DEFINITIONS

Chapter I
POLICY

Article 211. Declaration of Policy.

It is the policy of the State:

To promote and emphasize the primacy of free collective bargaining and negotiations,
including voluntary arbitration, mediation and conciliation, as modes of settling labor or
industrial disputes;

To promote free trade unionism as an instrument for the enhancement of democracy

and the promotion of social justice and development;

To foster the free and voluntary organization of a strong and united labor movement;

To promote the enlightenment of workers concerning their rights and obligations as

union members and as employees;

To provide an adequate administrative machinery for the expeditious settlement of labor

or industrial disputes;

To ensure a stable but dynamic and just industrial peace; and

To ensure the participation of workers in decision and policy-making processes affecting
their rights, duties and welfare.

To encourage a truly democratic method of regulating the relations between the

employers and employees by means of agreements freely entered into through
collective bargaining, no court or administrative agency or official shall have the power
to set or fix wages, rates of pay, hours of work or other terms and conditions of
employment, except as otherwise provided under this Code. (As amended by Section 3,
Republic Act No. 6715, March 21, 1989)

Title IX
SPECIAL PROVISIONS

Article 273. Study of labor-management relations. The Secretary of Labor shall have
the power and it shall be his duty to inquire into:

the existing relations between employers and employees in the Philippines;

the growth of associations of employees and the effect of such associations upon
employer-employee relations;

the extent and results of the methods of collective bargaining in the determination of
terms and conditions of employment;

the methods which have been tried by employers and associations of employees for
maintaining mutually satisfactory relations;

desirable industrial practices which have been developed through collective bargaining
and other voluntary arrangements;

the possible ways of increasing the usefulness and efficiency of collective bargaining for
settling differences;
the possibilities for the adoption of practical and effective methods of labor-management
cooperation;

any other aspects of employer-employee relations concerning the promotion of harmony

and understanding between the parties; and

the relevance of labor laws and labor relations to national development.

The Secretary of Labor shall also inquire into the causes of industrial unrest and take all
the necessary steps within his power as may be prescribed by law to alleviate the same,
and shall from time to time recommend the enactment of such remedial legislation as in
his judgment may be desirable for the maintenance and promotion of industrial peace.
CIVIL CODE:

Title VIII

CHAPTER 3

Section 2

Contract of Labor (n)

ARTICLE 1700. The relations between capital and labor are not merely contractual.
They are so impressed with public interest that labor contracts must yield to the
common good. Therefore, such contracts are subject to the special laws on labor
unions, collective bargaining, strikes and lockouts, closed shop, wages, working
conditions, hours of labor and similar subjects.

ARTICLE 1701. Neither capital nor labor shall act oppressively against the other, or
impair the interest or convenience of the public.

ARTICLE 1702. In case of doubt, all labor legislation and all labor contracts shall be
construed in favor of the safety and decent living for the laborer.

ARTICLE 1703. No contract which practically amounts to involuntary servitude, under

any guise whatsoever, shall be valid.