Question & AnswerQ&A (DOLE DEPARTMENT ORDER NO. 09, S. 1997)
An 'Employer' includes any person acting in the interest of an employer, directly or indirectly. It does not include any labor organization or any of its officers or agents except when acting as an employer.
A 'Managerial Employee' is one who is vested with powers or prerogatives to lay down and execute management policies and/or to hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, discharge, assign, or discipline employees.
The determination of an exclusive bargaining representative shall be through voluntary recognition, certification election, run-off election, or consent election as provided in the Order.
The registration may be cancelled for failure to comply with requirements under Articles 234, 237, and 238 of the Labor Code; violation of Article 239; or commission of acts enumerated under Article 241, supported by at least 30% of members.
Strikes or lockouts may be declared in cases of bargaining deadlocks and unfair labor practices, subject to notice and procedural requirements. Violations of collective bargaining agreements are generally not strikeable except for flagrant or malicious refusals to comply with its economic provisions.
The term of office is a fixed period of five (5) years during which the duly elected officers discharge the functions of their office.
Any labor organization defined under the Order that is duly registered with the Department of Labor and Employment and includes locals/chapters directly chartered by a federation or national union that have been duly reported.
The petition must be supported by the signatures of at least twenty-five percent (25%) of all employees in the appropriate bargaining unit.
The union gains rights, privileges, and obligations of an exclusive bargaining representative from the time the Regional Office records the fact of voluntary recognition.
Violators are punished by a fine from P1,000.00 to P10,000.00 and/or imprisonment for not less than three months nor more than three years, or both, at the court's discretion.
A committee on election not running for any position shall be constituted; it sets election rules, supervises the election, canvasses votes, resolves protests, and proclaims winners within the prescribed timeframe.
They shall act within thirty (30) days from filing by either approving and issuing the certificate or denying the application for non-compliance.
At least thirty percent (30%) of all the members of the labor organization or workers' association must support the petition.
The application must include names of officers, principal office address, minutes of organizational meeting, list of worker participants comprising at least 20% of bargaining unit employees, financial reports, and constitution and by-laws.
If the agreement contains provisions below legal standards or if registration documents are falsified, fraudulent, or tainted with misrepresentation.