Voluntary Arbitration Notes

CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS pertinent to LABOR

Art. 13, Sec. 3, Par. 3

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

Art. 2, Section 18, Constitution:

• The State affirms labor as a primary social economic force. It sahll portect the right of workers and promote their welfare.

Art. 3. Sec. 1

• No person shall be deprived of life, liberty and property without due process of law, nor shall any person be denied the equal protection of the laws.

Art. 3, Sec 8

• 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.

CIVIL CODE PROVISIONS pertinent to LABOR

Art. 1700

• The relation 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 tot he special laws on labor unions, collective bargaining, strikes and lockouts, closed shop, wages, working conditions, hour of labor, similar subjects.

Art. 1701

• Neither capital nor labor shall act oppressively againt the other or impair the interest or convenience of the public.

Art. 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.

Art. 1708

• The laborer's wages shall not be subject to execution or attachment, except for debts incurred for food, shelter, clothing and medical attendance.

Social Justice - the humanization of laws and the equalization of social and economic forces by the State so that justice in its rational and objectively secular conception may at least be approximated. It is the promotion of the welfare of all the people, the adoption by the government of measures calculated to ensure economic stability of all competent elements of society.

Grievance - any question by either the employer or union regarding the interpretation or application of the collective bargaining agreement or company personnel policies or any claim by either party that the other party is violating any provision of the CBA or company personnel policies.

Voluntary Arbitration - contractual proceedings where the parties to a dispute select a judge of their own choice and by consent submit their controversy to him for determination

Voluntary Arbitration = Arbitrator
Compulsory Arbitration = Labor Arbiter

Zipper Clause - a device to forestall negotiation proposals after the CBA has been signed

Labor Arbitration - the reference of a labor dispute to a third party for determination on the basis of evidence and arguments presented by such parties, who are bound to accept the decision.

The CBA is an in personam contract. Thus, the CBA is binding only between the parties, it is NOT ENFORCEABLE against a transferee of an enterprise or a purchaser of assets except if the transaction is clothed with bad faith.

Wiley Doctrine - The duty to arbitrate arising from a CBA survives the employer's ceasing to do business as a separate entity after its merger with a substantially large corporation, so as to be binding on the larger corporation, where relevant similarity and continuity of operations across the change in ownership is evidenced by the wholesale transfer of the smaller corporation's employees to the larger corproration's employees to the larger corporation's plant.
Exceptions:

1. It does not survive where there is lack of any substantial continuity of identity in the business enterprise before and after the change;
2. Where the union abandons its rights to arbitration by failing to make its claims known

Substitutionary doctrine - The contract continues to bind the employees despite the change of a bargaining representative up to the CBA's expiration date. THe new agent, howver, may bargain for the shortening of the contract period.

May a grievance be brought to Voluntary Arbitration without passing through the grievance procedure in the CBA?

• No, except when:

1. the grievance machinery has proven to be ineffective in the past;
2. the parties inadvertently failed to include a grievance machinery in their CBA

Compulsory Arbitration - the process of settlement of labor disputes in a government agency (or other means provided by the government) which has the power to investigate and make an award binding upon the parties.

Primary functions of Voluntary Labor Arbitration:

1. a process for the orderly disposition of disputes;
2. a foundation for a stable labor-management relation.

Criteria for the accreditation of Voluntary Arbitrators:

1. must be a Filipino citizen
2. a holder of a degree of Behavioral or Applied Sciences or equivalent educational trainings short of a Bachelor's Degree
3. at least 5 years experience in labor management relations
4. completion of a training course on voluntary arbitration conducted by NCMB
5. a person of good moral character

Contract negotiation - a.k.a. arbitration of interest, regarding disputes as to the terms of a CBA

Contract interpretation - a.k.a. arbitration of rights, regarding disputes arising under an existing CBA, involving such matters as the interpretation and application of the contract, or alleged violation of its provisions.