I

CHAPTER 10
LABOR MOVEMENTS

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LABOR MOVEMENTS
When we talk of labor movement, we are referring here to a continuing association of
workers for the purpose of improving the status and the welfare of workers. A movement is an
organized effort to achieve a common goal. Thus, unionism or organized labor constitutes such
as movement.
Terms to remember
1. Collective bargaining the effort of both employees and the employers group to
negotiate and ultimately agree upon the term is employment. The terms is contrasted
with individual bargaining in which employees act individually in which the employers
or managers.
2. Unions are long-term or permanent associations of employees formed and
maintained for the specific purpose of securing concession from employers. They are
also responsible for the implementation of whatever agreements agreed upon by
both employees and employers.
3. Collective agreement are the labor contracts or agreements negotiated in collective
bargaining. They are signed statements that indicate what each of the parties can
and will do to make the cooperation of employers and employees effective.
4. Employers association are organization of employers formed for the purpose of
dealing with unions most commonly for negotiating working relationship with
employee. Some type of employer associations, trade association may emphasize
promotion of industry products of securing favorable legislation and other favors from
the government.
5. The bargaining unit is the particular groups of jobs covered by a collective
agreement. A bargaining unit might include all jobs and employees of a certain
corporation. More often, however, an agreement for productions workers would not
include the supervisor of the managers.
6. Negotiation is the phase of collective bargaining which the parties try to arrive at an
agreement that will guide their relationship for a specified period of time. Negotiation
may be a brief or a lengthy process but it usually requires a long period of
preparation during which time both parties collect and organize information to
support their sides.
7. Bargaining agents- are the unions that present employees in each bargaining unit.
Unions become bargaining agents for the employees they represent in many ways.
Sometimes, an existing national or local unions organizes the employees and is thus
selected as their agent. A newly created union organized by the employees
themselves may be designated as their agent.

8. Contract administration is the day-to-day application and interpretation of collected

agreements. Immediately after a new contract is signed, careful interpretations of
each clause are prepared by many employers and are given to all supervisors to aid
them in administering the contract. Union officers and staff assistants may prepare
similar guides for their members.

What are Unions for

The workers right to self-organization is deeply respected by the constitution. More
specifically, Art. 224 of the labor code specifies that all persons employed in commercial,
industrial and agricultural enterprises, including religious, charitable, medical or educational
institutions operating for profit, shall have the right to self-organization and to form, join, or assist
labor organizations for purposes of collective bargaining. Ambulant, intermittent and intolerant
worker, self-employed people may form labor organizations for the purpose of enhancing and
defending their interests and for their mutual aid and protection. The right to organize is one of
the few tenets that is accepted implicity by all unionists everywhere. However, the union is
accepted and becomes a permanents feature of the industry.
Secondly, union activities involve the control of job opportunities. With the shortage of
good jobs and the number of people trying to get into these jobs exceeding the number of
vacancies available, membership in a union can mean getting and maintaining that job or being
left out in the streets.
Thirdly, the union plays a very important role particularly with regard to improvement of
wages, job tenure, hours of work, and other terms of employment.
How Unions Seek to Raise Wages
Several methods by which unions might hope to raise wages;
1. Unions can reduce the supply of labor
2. Shifting of demand curve
3. Raising standard wage rate
Employer policy in Labor Relations
1.
2.
3.
4.

Protection of profits.
Protection of management rights and prerogative
Retention of employee loyalty.
Cooperation for mutual advantage.

Phases in Union Management Relationship

The union-management relationship goes into several phases of development. A constant

relationship between unions and management is very difficult to maintain over a long period of
time.
The first phase resistance to unions
The second phase is the period of toleration
The third stage consist of collaboration or acceptance
The fourth phase consist in union-management cooperation

The Growth of Labor Unions

As observed and recorded by a Filipino nationalist, Teodoro Agoncillo, the growth of
labor unions in the Philippines essentially an upshot of the American occupation. Labor unions
were unknown during the Spanish Period, for aside from the limited industrial and commercial
opportunities, the Colonial Government did not encourage any movement that would tend to
undermine the Spanish view of peace and order. The labor leaders, on May 1, 1913, presented
a united front when they held the first labor congress on the occasion of the celebration of the
first labor day in the Philippines.
In the 1920s, communist and socialist influence seeped through some labor unions,
particularly those Manila and Central Luzon. When, in 1939, Secretary of Labor, Jose Avelino
formed the National Commission on Labor, both the communist and concervative factions of
labor were presented. The conflict between the two labor camps continued up to the outbreak of
the war, when all labor unions were declare illegal by the Japanese conquerors.
After the war, the growth of labor was phenomenal. The labor movement became
dynamic, particularly because of the war experiences of the masses and of the influence of the
American soldiers who were members of powerful labor unions in the United States. With the
labor front in turmoil owing to the uncompromising stand of the CLO and with Central Luzon up
in arms against the government Quirinos administration, taking advantage of the suspension
the writ of habeas corpus, bore down militant labor union, particularly the CLO, and invited
its leader to Camp Murphy for investigation.
Hernandez was detained for six months before charges were preferred against him. He
was charged with the crime of rebellion complexed with murder and arson, and sentenced to
life imprisonment. Upon appeal to the Supreme Court, Hernandez was acquitted.

Labor Gains

Through united action, labor made significant gains among the first being the creation of
the Bureau of Labor, and later, of the Department of Labor and Employment, and the reactment
of legislation providing for the prosecution of usurers, the protection of Domestic help, the
payment of compensation to workers injured in line of duty, and the protection of women and
children working in factories. A special tribunal, the Court of Industrial Relations, has been
established to facilitate the settlement of disputes between implementation of laws governing
the relationship and capital and labor, such as the Eight Hours Labor Law, the Social Security
Act, and others.

Bad Features of Philippine Labor

On paper, it would seem that Labor is united and, therefore, strong. Philippine Labor is
devided against itself owing mainly to, first, differences in principles and, second, personal
ambition of some leaders. Mergers of union have filed degree autonomy from the parent
organization, a demand that was not taken seriously by those in power. Early in 1959, the labor
union grandiloquently announced the formation of a super-organization, the Kalipunan ng mga
Manggagawang Pilipino (KMP) but no sooner has President Garcia spoken to them at a
banquet at the Manila Hotel when some affiliated unions withdrew from the parent organization
allegedly on a question of principle. Thus, labor today is still devided.
Some labor unions are still infested with unscrupulous and dishonest leaders whose one
preoccupation is to make sucker out of the laborers. After a days or weeks of negotiations, the
leaders, having been prevailed upon by management to accept a gift of, say P50,000, would
then tell the striking laborers that the company would be in the red if they persisted in their
demand for wage increases.
Another instance of dishonesty on the part of certain labor misleaders is the so called
kickback. In this Practice, the labor leaders compel the workers to come across, that is to
say, to give part of the daily wages to the former, though the capataz or foreman, who sees to
it that all pay their dues.
Still another dishonest practice is justice which the labor leaders hires his labourer for,
say, four pesos a day.
Another bad features of labor in the Philippines is the workersl;ack of civic sense. The
extent of labor unrest in the Philippines is reflected in the number of strike and lock-outs
registered with the DOLE in the years 1988-1990,2000.

Table 37

RECORDED STRIKES AND LOCK-OUTS IN THE PHILIPPINES

1988 to October 1990, 2000
Indicator

1990

2000

1988

1989

TOTAL1st Sem.

Pending, Beginning

210

134

133

133

173

208

New notices filed

1428

1518

1372

826

162

150

Total Handled

1638

1652

1505

959

335

358

Total Disposed

1504

1519

1314

786

127

132

1173

1210

1060

624

111

108

Assumed Jurisdiction By labor sec.

29

22

23

11

Certified for the compulsory Arbitratic

19

15

81

103

69

47

Materialized into Actual Strike (000)

222

169

147

96

10

11

Workers involve in New notices filled

339

351

304

203

31

27

Disposition rate (%)

91.8

91.9

87.3

82.0

37.9

36.9

Settlement rate (%)

71.6

73.2

70.4

65.1

33.1

30.2

Pending, Beginning

30

12

12

15

15

New strikes Declared

267

197

164

101

11

16

July

Aug.

Strikes Lockouts/Notices

Settled

Others

734

Actual Strikes/Lockouts

Total Handled

297

206

176

113

26

31

Total Disposed

288

194

156

98

11

14

60

III

Quiz
I.

Match column A with B. Write the letter of the correct answer on blank.