LABOR RELATIONS AND

NEGOTIATIONS
ATTY. AIMEE GRACE A. GARCIA, CPA
Unfair Labor Practices of Employers
• Management Rights Regulated
• It is the prerogative of management to regulate, according to its
discretion and judgment, all aspects of employment.
• But the law spurns anti-unionism and this legal policy is one of the
potent limitations to the so-called management prerogatives.

• ULP, a matter of facts and evidence

• NLRC, in the first instance, to weigh the employer’s expressed motive in
determining the effect on the employees of management’s otherwise
equivocal act
Unfair Labor Practices of Employers
• Interference, Restraint, or Coercion
• Broadest scope
• Interference, restraint or coercion by the employer may constitute ULP even when it is
committed before the employees’ union is formally registered.
• Examples of unlawful acts to discourage membership in a labor organization: (1) dismissal of
union members upon their refusal to give up their membership under the pretext of
retrenchment due to reduced dollar allocations; (2) dismissal of an old employee allegedly for
inefficiency, on account of her joining a union

• Totality of Conduct Doctrine

• An employer’s expression of opinion about unionization may or may not amount to ULP,
depending on combination of circumstances
Unfair Labor Practices of Employers
• Closure, “Successor Employer” Doctrine
• Where the sale of a business enterprise was attended with bad faith, there is no need to
consider the applicability of the rule that labor contracts, being in personam, are not
enforceable against the transferee. The latter is in the position of tortfeasor (or a
wrongdoer), having been a party likewise responsible for the damage inflicted on the
members of the aggrieved union and therefore cannot justly escape liability

• Piercing the Corporate Veil

• The “successor employer” ruling is an enforcement of the legal recourse called “piercing
the veil of corporate entity.”
Unfair Labor Practices of Employers
• Run-away Shop
• A ULP defined as an industrial plant moved by its owners from one location to another to
escape union labor regulations, or state laws

• Yellow dog Contract

• The yellow dog contract is a promise exacted from workers or prospective employees that
they will not belong to, or from, a union during their employment

• Subcontracting
• A ULP when it is motivated by a desire to prevent his employees from organizing and
selecting a collective bargaining representative
Unfair Labor Practices of Employers
• Company-domination of Union
• Initiation of the company union ides
• Financial support to the union
• Employer encouragement and assistance
• Supervisory assistance

• Discrimination
• Discrimination to encourage or discourage membership in a labor organization. Thus, where
the purpose is to influence the union activity of employees, the discrimination is unlawful.
Unfair Labor Practices of Employers
• Valid Discrimination; Union Security Clause
• Form of agreement within a CBA which imposes upon employees the obligation to acquire or retain union
membership, at the expense of their employment if they fail to do so.
• Union shop
• Maintenance of Membership
• Agency Shop
• Closed Shop
• Exceptions: (1) religious organization (2) already member of a minority union (3) express terms of the
agreement

• Retaliation
• Employer’s motive is immaterial, the bare fact that he dismisses or otherwise discriminate against an
employee simply because the employee is testifying is enough to constitute a ULP act.
Unfair Labor Practices of Labor Organizations
• Not only an employer but also a labor organization can be held guilty of ULP
• Featherbedding
• Name given to employee practices which create or spread employment by unnecessarily
maintaining or increasing the number of employees used, or the amount of time
consumed, to work on a particular job

• Sweetheart Contract
• Labor organization to ask for or accept negotiation or attorney’s fees from employer in
settling a bargaining issue or a dispute