CASE DIGEST: SMC QUARRY 2 WORKERS UNION – FSM VS TITAN MEGABAGS INDUSTRIAL CORPORATION

SMC QUARRY 2 WORKERS UNION – FSM

VS

TITAN MEGABAGS INDUSTRIAL CORPORATION

428 SCRA 524

May 19, 2004

FACTS

-Petitioner filed a petition for certification election with the Med-Arbitration Section OF DOLE. Respondent opposed the petition, contending that members of petitioner union are not its employees but of Stitchers Multi-Purpose Cooperative (SMC), an independent contractor. Respondent claimed that it engaged SMC to manufacture and sew its multi-purpose industrial bags.

-The Med-Arbiter held that respondent is the employer of the members of petitioner union and directed that a certification election be conducted by its regular rank and file workers. On appeal, the DOLE Sec affirmed the decision.

-Respondent filed a motion for reconsideration but was denied by the DOLE Sec. for being late by 7 days. Upon appeal, the CA set aside the resolutions of the DOLE and disallowed the conduct of a certification election.

ISSUE

WON the CA erred in setting aside the Resolutions of the DOLE Sec.

HELD

YES

Under Article 259 of the Labor Code, as amended, any party to a certification election may appeal the order of the Med-Arbiter directly to the Secretary of Labor who shall decide the same within 15 calendar days.

Along this line, Section 15, Rule XI, Book V of the Omnibus Rules Implementing the Labor Code provides that the Decision or Resolution of the Secretary of the DOLE on appeal shall be final and executory. Upon finality of the Decision of the Secretary, the entire records of the case shall be remanded to the office of origin for implementation of the Decision, unless restrained by the appropriate court.

In National Federation of Labor vs. Laguesma, it was ruled that the remedy of an aggrieved party in a Decision or Resolution of the Secretary of the DOLE is to timely file a motion for reconsideration as a precondition for any further or subsequent remedy, and then seasonably file a special civil action for certiorari under Rule 65 of the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure. And without a motion for reconsideration seasonably filed within the 10-day reglementary period, the questioned Decision or Resolution of the Secretary becomes final and executory. Consequently, the merits of the case can no longer be reviewed to determine if the Secretary could be faulted for grave abuse of discretion.

Respondents failure to file its motion for reconsideration seasonably is jurisdictional and fatal to its cause and has, in effect, rendered final and executory resolutions of the Secretary of the DOLE. Even if there was no procedural flaw on the part of respondent, still the CA should have denied respondents petition for certiorari. It has been held that “in certification elections, the employer is a bystander, it has no right or material interest to assail the certification election.”

Thus, when a petition for certification election is filed by a legitimate labor organization, it is good policy of the employer not to have any participation or partisan interest in the choice of the bargaining representative. While employers may rightfully be notified or informed of petitions of such nature, they should not, however, be considered parties thereto with an inalienable right to oppose it