QuestionsQuestions (DOLE DEPARTMENT ORDER NO. 40-03)
The State promotes the free and responsible exercise of the right to self-organization through a simplified mechanism for speedy union registration, determination of representation status, and resolution of inter/intra-union and related labor disputes; only legitimate/registered labor organizations may represent members for collective bargaining and other purposes, while workers’ associations may represent for purposes other than collective bargaining.
All persons employed in covered enterprises may exercise the right to self-organization and form/join/assist labor unions for collective bargaining, except supervisory employees cannot be members of rank-and-file unions but may form separate supervisory unions; managerial employees cannot form/join/assist any labor unions for collective bargaining.
Beginning on the first day of the employee’s service, regardless of whether employment is for a definite period or not.
With the Regional Office where the applicant principally operates; it is processed by the Labor Relations Division at that Regional Office.
With the Bureau or the Regional Offices as applicable, but processing is by the Bureau, consistent with the Rules’ division of functions for multi-region organizations.
Key requirements include: (1) name, principal address, officers and addresses, approximate bargaining unit employees, and statement it is not reported as a chartered local; (2) minutes of organizational meeting(s) and list of participants; (3) name of members comprising at least 20% of employees in the bargaining unit; (4) annual financial reports if in existence for one or more years (or statement that none collected); and (5) constitution and by-laws plus minutes of adoption/ratification and list of ratifying members (or describe circumstances if adopted/ratified during the organizational meeting).
A resolution of affiliation of at least ten (10) legitimate labor organizations, each of which must be a duly certified or recognized bargaining agent in the establishment where it seeks to operate, plus the name/addresses of companies where the affiliates operate and the list of members in each company involved.
Legal personality and registration are deemed effective on the date of issuance of the certificate; the registration may be questioned only through an independent petition for cancellation of union registration under Rule XIV—not by collateral attack in certification election proceedings.
The concerned office must notify the applicant within five (5) days of receipt; the applicant has thirty (30) days from notice to comply. Failure to comply results in denial of the application or return of the notice, without prejudice to filing a new application/notice.
Entry of voluntary recognition bars any petition for certification election for one (1) year from the date of entry. After one year, a petition may be filed again in the same bargaining unit, subject to further conditions such as the existence of a registered CBA.
An Eligible Voter is a voter belonging to the appropriate bargaining unit that is the subject of a petition for certification election; eligibility turns on being in the bargaining unit covered by the petition (and, in contested cases, the rules allow challenged voters to vote with segregation of ballots).
Examples include: (1) filing within one (1) year from entry of voluntary recognition or from a valid certification/consent/run-off election in the same bargaining unit (subject to suspension if appeal pending); (2) filing while a duly certified union has commenced and sustained negotiations in good faith within the one-year period; (3) filing when a bargaining deadlock involving the incumbent/certified agent is submitted to conciliation/arbitration or a valid notice of strike/lockout exists; (4) where there is a registered CBA, filing only within the 60-day freedom period prior to expiry.
The petition is heard and resolved by the Med-Arbiter.
The incumbent bargaining agent is automatically one of the choices in the certification election as forced intervenor.
Issues pertaining to existence of employer-employee relationship, eligibility/mixture raised before the Med-Arbiter are resolved in the same order/decision, but questions on validity of petitioning union’s certificate/legal personality, and validity/registration/execution of collective bargaining agreements are to be resolved via an independent petition for cancellation—not in the certification election—unless the petitioning union is not found in the roster or the existing CBA is unregistered with the Department.
An order granting conduct of a certification election in an unorganized establishment is not subject to appeal (issues may be raised via protest). In an organized establishment, the order and any decision dismissing/denying the petition may be appealed to the Office of the Secretary within ten (10) days from receipt.
The challenge must be based only on: (1) that there is no employer-employee relationship between the voter and the company; or (2) that the voter is not a member of the appropriate bargaining unit which the petitioner seeks to represent.