CASE DIGEST: DUNLOP SLAZENGER V SEC. OF LABOR (RUIZ)

DUNLOP SLAZENGER

VS

SEC. OF LABOR (RUIZ)

300 SCRA 120

[DECEMBER 11, 1998]

NATURE

Petition for certiorari

FACTS

-Respondent union filed a Petition for Certification Election among the supervisory, office and technical employees of the petitioner company before the DOLE, Regional Office No. III.

-Petitioner company filed a motion to dismiss based on 1) that the respondent union is comprised of supervisory and rank-and-file employees and cannot act as bargaining agent for the proposed unit; (2) that a single certification election cannot be conducted jointly among supervisory and rank-and-file employees; and (3) that the respondent union lacks legal standing since it failed to submit its books of accounts.

-Respondent alleges that it is composed only of supervisory employees and that it has no obligation to attach its books of accounts since it is a legitimate labor organization.

-The mediator arbiter granted the petition of the union. It said that the contention of the respondent that the petitioning union is composed of both supervisory and rank and file employees is not sufficient to dismiss the petition. It can be remedied thru the exclusion-inclusion proceedings wherein those employees who are occupying rank and file positions will be excluded from the list of eligible voters. The secretary of labor affirmed.

ISSUE/S

WON the union can be composed of supervisory and rank and file employees

HELD

NO.

Ratio Article 245 of the Labor Code clearly provides that “supervisory employees shall not be eligible for membership in a labor organization of the rank-and-file employees.” Reasoning Public respondent gravely misappreciates the basic antipathy between the interest of supervisors and the interest of rankand-file employees. There is a irreconcilability of their interests which cannot be cured even in the exclusion-inclusion proceedings.

Disposition

Petition is granted.