Oriental Tin Can Labor Union vs. SOLE

Topic: Representation Status (Regional Office - DOLE)
Oriental Tin Can Labor Union (OTCLU) vs. Secretary of Labor and Employment, et al.
Oriental Tin Can and Metal Sheet Manufacturing Co., Inc. vs. Hon. Bienvenido E. Laguesma, et al.
G.R. No. 116751; G.R. No. 116779; August 28, 1998.
Facts:
 Company: entered CBA with OTCLU as the existing CBA was due to expire on April 15, 1994. Four days
later, 248 of the company’s rank-and-file employees authorized the Federation of Free Workers (FFW) to
file a petition for certification election. On March 10, 1994, however, this petition was repudiated via a
written waiver by 115 of the signatories who, along with other employees totalling 897, ratified the CBA
on the same date.
 OTCWU-FFW: (with Charter Certificate) filed a petition for certification election with DOLE. Petition was
accompanied by the “authentic signatures” of 25% of the employees/workers in the bargaining unit.
 OTCLU: filed motion to dismiss; it was not endorsed by at least 25% of the employees of the bargaining
unit. Some of the employees who initially signed the petition had allegedly withdrawn in writing.
 OTCWU-FFW: claimed that the retraction of support for the petition was “not verified under oath.”
Petition had the required support of more than 25% of all the employees in the bargaining unit.
 Company: new CBA was ratified by 897 / 1,020 rank-and-file employees within the bargaining unit.
 OTCWU-FFW: an employer has no legal personality to oppose a petition for certification election; that
there are only 882 rank and file workers in the bargaining unit and not 1,020 which included supervisors
and workers hired after the filing of the petition; that those who gave their support to the filing of the
petition did not withdraw or retract the same before or after the petition was filed; the CBA between
company and OTCLU is a sweetheart contract and concluded within the freedom period; and that
additional employees gave their support to the petition after the same was filed.
 Company: opposed
 DOLE: issued a certificate of registration of the CBA. It showed that the CBA between the company and
the OTCLU would have the force and effect of law between the parties that had complied with the
requirements and standards for registration thereof.
 OTCWU-FFW Officers: walked out of their jobs. The following day, said union filed a notice of strike with
the NCMB grounded on the alleged dismissal of union members/officers. Two days later, the company
directed said officers to report back to work within 48 hours, but none of them did.
 Med-Arbiter: dismissed the petition for certification election for lack of merit; after the valid retractions,
the remaining 133 of the 1,020 employees were clearly less than the 25% subscription requirement.
 OTCWU-FFW: appealed this ruling to the Labor Secretary. During the pendency of the appeal, said
union staged a strike that prevented the free ingress and egress of non-striking employees, delivery
trucks and other vehicles to and from the company’s premises.
 NLRC: issued a writ of preliminary injunction; strike caused the company to incur daily losses amounting
to P3.6M.
 Undersecretary Laguesma: When the said CBA was registered there was a pending representation
case. Consequently, said CBA cannot bar the election being prayed for. He added that even if there
were 1,020 rank-and-file employees in the bargaining unit, the signatures gathered sufficed to meet the
25% support requirement.
Issue: Whether the company may concern itself with employee representation
Held: NO, but with exception
Ratio:
 It is a well-established rule that certification elections are exclusively the concern of employees; hence,
the employer lacks the legal personality to challenge the same. In Golden Farms, Inc. v. Secretary of
Labor, the Court declared: “x x x. Law and policy demand that employers take a strict, hands-off
stance in certification elections. The bargaining representative of employees should be chosen free
from any extraneous influence of management. A labor bargaining representative, to be effective,
must owe its loyalty to the employees alone and to no other.”
 The company’s interference in the certification election below by actively opposing the same is
manifestly uncalled for and unduly creates a suspicion that it intends to establish a company union.
 The Labor Code imposes upon the employer and the representative of the employees the duty to
bargain collectively.
 If a collective bargaining agreement has been duly registered in accordance with Article 231 of the
Code, a petition for certification election or a motion for intervention can only be entertained within
sixty (60) days prior to the expiry date of such agreement.
 The agreement prematurely signed by the union and the company during the freedom period does not
affect the petition for certification election filed by another union.
 Once the required percentage requirement has been reached, the employees’ withdrawal from union
membership taking place after the filing of the petition for certification election will not affect the
petition.
 It is judicially settled that a certification election is the most effective and expeditious means of
determining which labor organization can truly represent the working force in the appropriate
bargaining unit of the company.

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Topic: Representation Status (Regional Office - DOLE)

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