REYES V TRAJANO GR NO. 84433

Topic: Right to self organization

FACTS:

The certification election was authorized to be conducted by the Bureau of Labor Relations among the employees of Tri-Union Industries Corporation on October 20, 1987. The competing unions were the Tri-Union Employees Union-Organized Labor Association in Line Industries and Agriculture (TUEU-OLALIA), and Trade Union of the Philippines and Allied Services (TUPAS).

Of the 348 workers initially deemed to be qualified voters, only 240 actually took part in the election, conducted under the supervision of the Bureau of Labor Relations. Among the 240 employees who cast their votes were 141 members of the INK. The ballots provided for three (3) choices

 In each ballot, the employee had the following choices to vote on: (a) TUPAS, (b) TUEU-OLALIA and (c) “NO UNION.” ( which means the employee choose to conformably stay with established rule and practice)

The final tally of the votes showed the following results:

TUPAS= 1

TUEU-OLALIA= 95

NO UNION = 1,

SPOILED = 1

CHALLENGED = 141

The challenged votes were those cast by the 141 INK members. They were segregated and excluded from the final count in virtue of an agreement between the competing unions, reached at the pre-election conference, that the INK members should not be allowed to vote “because they are not members of any union and refused to participate in the previous certification elections.”

The INK employees promptly filed a petition to cancel the election before the Med Arbiter alleging that it “was not fair” and the result thereof did “not reflect the true sentiments of the majority of the employees.” TUEU-OLALIA opposed the petition contending that the petitioners “do not have legal personality to protest the results of the election,” because “they are not members of either contending unit, but . . . of the INK” which prohibits its followers, on religious grounds, from joining or forming any labor organization. The Med Arbiter denied the petition.

Public Respondent Trajano as OIC of the Bureau of Labor Relations sustained the denial by the Med Arbiter of the right to vote of 141 members of the “Iglesia ni Kristo” (INK).

ISSUE/S: W/N employees who are not part of any union may validly exercise their right to vote in a certification election?

RULING:  YES. Guaranteed to all employees or workers is the “right to self-organization and to form, join, or assist labor organizations of their own choosing for purposes of collective bargaining.” This is made plain by no less than three provisions of the Labor Code of the Philippines.

The right of self-organization includes the right to organize or affiliate with a labor union or determine which of two or more unions in an establishment to join, and to engage in concerted activities with co-workers for purposes of collective bargaining through representatives of their own choosing, or for their mutual aid and protection, i.e., the protection, promotion, or enhancement of their rights and interests.

The right to form or join a labor organization necessarily includes the right to refuse or refrain from exercising said right. It is self-evident that just as no one should be denied the exercise of a right granted by law, so also, no one should be compelled to exercise such a conferred right. The fact that a person has opted to acquire membership in a labor union does not preclude his subsequently opting to renounce such membership.

The purpose of a certification election is precisely the ascertainment of the wishes of the majority of the employees in the appropriate bargaining unit: to be or not to be represented by a labor organization, and in the affirmative case, by which particular labor organization.

If the results of the election should disclose that the majority of the workers do not wish to be represented by any union, then their wishes must be respected, and no union may properly be certified as the exclusive representative of the workers in the bargaining unit in dealing with the employer regarding wages, hours and other terms and conditions of employment.

The minority employees — who wish to have a union represent them in collective bargaining — can do nothing but wait for another suitable occasion to petition for a certification election and hope that the results will be different. They may not and should not be permitted, however, to impose their will on the majority — who do not desire to have a union certified as the exclusive workers’ benefit in the bargaining unit — upon the plea that they, the minority workers, are being denied the right of self-organization and collective bargaining.

The respondents’ argument that the petitioners are disqualified to vote because they “are not constituted into a duly organized labor union” — “but members of the INK which prohibits its followers, on religious grounds, from joining or forming any labor organization” — and “hence, not one of the unions which vied for certification as sole and exclusive bargaining representative,” is specious.

Neither law, administrative rule nor jurisprudence requires that only employees affiliated with any labor organization may take part in a certification election. On the contrary, the plainly discernible intendment of the law is to grant the right to vote to all bona fide employees in the bargaining unit, whether they are members of a labor organization or not.

Neither does the contention that petitioners should be denied the right to vote because they “did not participate in previous certification elections in the company for the reason that their religious beliefs do not allow them to form, join or assist labor organizations,” persuade acceptance. No law, administrative rule or precedent prescribes forfeiture of the right to vote by reason of neglect to exercise the right in past certification elections.

DISPOSITIVE: WHEREFORE, the petition for certiorari is GRANTED; the Decision of the then Officer-in-Charge of the Bureau of Labor Relations dated December 21, 1987 (affirming the Order of the Med-Arbiter dated July 22, 1988) is ANNULLED and SET ASIDE; and the petitioners are DECLARED to have legally exercised their right to vote, and their ballots should be canvassed and, if validly and properly made out, counted and tallied for the choices written therein. Costs against private respondents.

DOCTRINE:  Neither law, administrative rule nor jurisprudence requires that only employees affiliated with any labor organization may take part in a certification election. On the contrary, the plainly discernible intendment of the law is to grant the right to vote to all bona fide employees in the bargaining unit, whether they are members of a labor organization or not.

Employees should not be denied the right to vote because they “did not participate in previous certification elections in the company for the reason that their religious beliefs do not allow them to form, join or assist labor organizations”. No law, administrative rule or precedent prescribes forfeiture of the right to vote by reason of neglect to exercise the right in past certification elections.