Philippines: Industrial relations

Original and updating authors: Marianne M. Miguel and Easter Princess U. Castro-Ty, SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan

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Summary

• Employees have a right to form, join or assist trade unions (and a right not to do these things), and registered trade unions have various rights and privileges. (See Trade unions)
• In order to engage in collective bargaining with an employer on behalf of employees in a particular bargaining unit, a trade union must be officially certified as the employees' "sole and exclusive bargaining agent" (SEBA). (See Trade union recognition)
• Where a trade union has been certified as the SEBA for a bargaining unit, the SEBA and the employer have a statutory duty to bargain collectively, and various other rules govern collective bargaining and agreements. (See Collective bargaining and agreements)
• Collective agreements must establish machinery for the resolution of certain grievances. (See Grievance machinery and voluntary arbitration)
• Certain actions by employers are considered to be unlawful "unfair labour practices", such as interfering with, restraining or coercing employees in the exercise of their trade union rights, discriminating against employees in order to encourage or discourage membership of a union or, where applicable, violating the statutory duty to bargain collectively. (See Unfair labour practices)
• Employees have a general right to participate in the policy-making and decision-making processes of the establishment where they are employed, to the extent that these processes directly affect their rights, benefits and welfare, and for this purpose employees and employers may voluntarily set up joint labour-management councils or committees. (See Informing and consulting employees - general)
• Apart from giving one month's written notice of termination to employees and the Department of Labor and Employment, employers are under no statutory obligation to inform and/or consult employees or trade unions about planned redundancies. (See Informing and consulting prior to redundancies)
• Employers have no statutory obligation to inform and/or consult employees or trade unions about planned business transfers. (See Informing and consulting prior to transfers)
• Strikes may be called only in the event of a collective bargaining deadlock, or where an employer commits an unfair labour practice, and various rules govern the calling and conduct of industrial action. (See Industrial action and picketing)