CASE DIGEST: ASSOCIATED LABOR UNIONS (ALU) V FERRER CALLEJA

ASSOCIATED LABOR UNIONS (ALU)

VS

FERRER CALLEJA

169 SCRA 490

[November 6, 1989]

NATURE

Special civil action of certiorari

FACTS

-Several days before the expiration of the CBA between petitioner ALU and the Philippine Associated Smelting and Refining Corporation (PASAR), private respondent National Federation of Labor Unions (NAFLU) filed a petition for certification election with the Bureau of Labor Relations Regional Office in Tacloban city.

-Petitioner sought the dismissal of the petition on the ground that NAFLU failed to present the necessary signatures in support of its petition.

ISSUES

1. WON the holding of certification elections in organized establishments is mandated only where a petition is filed questioning the majority status of the incumbent union, and that it is only after establishing that a union has indeed a considerable support that a certification election should be ordered

HELD

1. NO

Reasoning in cases of organized establishments where there exists a certified bargaining agent, what is essential is whether the petition for certification election wasfiled within the sixty-day freedom period. Article 256 of the Labor Code, as amended by Executive Order No. 111, provides:

ART. 256. Representation issue in organized establishments. In organized establishments, when a petition questioning the majority status of the incumbent bargaining agent is filed before the Department within the sixty-day period before the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement, the Med-Arbiter shall automatically order an election by secret ballot to ascertain the will of the employees in the appropriate bargaining unit. To have a valid election, at least a majority of all eligible voters in the unit must have cast their votes. The labor union receiving the majority of the valid votes cast shall be certified as the exclusive bargaining agent of all the workers in the unit.

When an election which provides for three or more choices results in no choice receiving a majority of the valid votes cast, a run-off election shall be conducted between the choices receiving the two highest number of votes.

Article 256 is clear. The mere filing of a petition for certification election within the freedom period is sufficient basis for the respondent Director to order the holding of a certification election.

Was the petition filed by NAFLU instituted within the freedom period? The record speaks for itself. The previous CBA entered into by petitioner ALU was due to expire on April 1, 1987. The petition for certification was filed by NAFLU on March 23, 1987, well within the freedom period.

Disposition

Petition is dismissed for lack of merit.