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LABOR CODE OF THE PHILIPPINES

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Labor Code of the Philippines stands as the law governing employment practices and labor relations in the Philippines. It was enacted on Labor day of 1974 by President Ferdinand Marcos, in the exercise of his then extant legislative powers. Features The Labor Code prescribes the rules for hiring and termination of private employees; the conditions of work including maximum work hours and overtime; employee benefits such as holiday pay, thirteenth month pay and retirement pay; and the guidelines in the organization and membership in labor unions as well as in collective bargaining. The Labor Code contains several provisions which are beneficial to labor. It prohibits termination from employment of Private employees except for just or authorized causes as prescribed in Article 282 to 284 of the Code. The right to trade union is expressly recognized, as is the right of a union to insist on a closed shop. Strikes are also authorized for as long as they comply with the strict requirements under the Code, and workers who organize or participate in illegal strikes may be subject to dismissal. Moreover, Philippine jurisprudence has long applied a rule that any doubts in the interpretation of law, especially the Labor Code, will be resolved in favor of labor and against management.

Philippine Labor Law

By Katherine Harder, eHow Contributor

Philippine labor laws, known in the Philippines as the Labor Code of the Philippines, were created to protect workers from exploitation and wrongful terminations. These labor laws are also meant to encourage fair hiring practices. Philippine labor laws seek to create a fair working environment which can then benefit both employers and employees.

History The Labor Code of the Philippines was established in 1974 on Labor Day by then current president Ferdinand Marcos. The Labor Code of the Philippines was created during a nine-year period of martial law as declared by Marcos in response to growing political unrest. Also known as Presidential Decree 442, several articles of the code have been amended since it was instated; the first several amendments were created in 1980. It took effect six months after its creation.

Format of the Labor Code The Labor Code consists of its preliminary title and a total of seven books, which include pre-employment; human resources development program; conditions of employment; health, safety and social welfare benefits; labor relations; post employment; and transitory and final provisions. Each book is then broken down into many chapters; chapters are then further subdivided by articles.

2 Important Points About the Labor Code The fundamental policy of the code, as paraphrased from the first chapter of the document, is to protect laborers from unscrupulous employers, encourage full employment, and guard against workplace discrimination. The Labor Code of the Philippines is a labor-friendly document; Article 4, Chapter 1 of the Preliminary Title section of the code states "All doubts in the implementation and interpretation of the provisions of this Code, including its implementing rules and regulations, shall be resolved in favor of labor." Termination is also tightly regulated by the code, and can only occur legally under specific circumstances.

Enforcement of Philippine Labor Laws The Labor Code of the Philippines is enforced through a quasi-judicial organization called the National Labor Relations Commission, which was created by Marcos even before the Labor Code was enacted. The NLRC works in tandem with the Department of Labor and Employment to resolve employer/employee disputes and labor code violations. The five divisions of the NLRC have been region specific since 1986, following the EDSA revolution. The NLRC has been publicly dealing with a staggering backlog of cases for several years; however, its website does indicate a master plan to eliminate the backlog in the near future. Information About Outsourcing to the Philippines Due to low labor costs, the Philippines has become a popular destination for labor outsourcing, especially for call centers and information technology businesses. However, many of the labor laws in the Philippines may seem unusual to the outsourcing company, such as laws that prohibit women from working past midnight or stipulations to provide "thirteenth month" pay for employees who have worked a full year. Businesses are encouraged to research the labor code thoroughly before employing workers.

Philippines Labor Relations

From independence in 1946 until martial law was declared in 1972, the government encouraged collective bargaining and, except for setting up a commission in 1970 to supervise the fixing of minimum wages, involved itself minimally in labor relations. For most of the martial law period (1972-81), strikes were forbidden or severely limited. The Marcos labor code of 1974 made arbitration compulsory. The right to strike was partially restored in 1976, but with considerable restrictions. The Aquino government took a somewhat more liberal approach to labor, but some of the structures of the Marcos period remained.

Organized labor in the Philippines has been relatively weak. In 1986 it was estimated that about 2.2 million Filipinos were part of the union movement, accounting for approximately 20 percent of the wageand-salary work force or 10 percent of the total labor force. These workers were organized into some 2,000 unions, half of which were not connected to a national union or federation. In 1987 only 350,000 workers were covered by collective bargaining agreements. The largest union body was the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP). Formed in December 1974, it was designated the official labor center of the Philippines by the Marcos government. Another labor organization, the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), or the May First Movement, was formed in July 1980, bringing together nine broadly based, more ideologically oriented unions. The two major union centers represented sharply different visions of the role of unions in society. Although TUCP supported Marcos, it represented itself as a proponent of nonpolitical unionism, concerned primarily with the

collective bargaining process. The KMU was more openly political, projecting itself as a proponent of "genuine, militant, and nationalist unionism." Going beyond collective bargaining, the KMU called for the formation of worker solidarity movements and advocated a nationalist-oriented alternative to the prevailing economic and social policies of the government. The Labor Advisory and Consultative Council (LACC), formed at the onset of the Aquino administration in 1986 by then Labor Minister Agusto Sanchez, drew the various factions of the labor movement together to advise the Ministry of Labor and Employment. Membership in LACC included the KMU, the Federation of Free Workers, Lakas Ng Manggagawa Labor Center, and, for a short while, the TUCP. When Aquino came into office in 1986, she had the backing of a wide spectrum of the population, including those affiliated with labor unions. In her May 1 speech that year, before a large and enthusiastic gathering of labor groups, Aquino presented a package of labor-law reforms, including extension of the right to strike, making it easier to petition for a union certification election, and abrogation of repressive labor legislation decreed by the Marcos government. Soon, however, the president began to shift ground as she received vigorous protests by both Filipino and foreign businessmen against her May Day promises. The pledges were rethought, modified in some cases, and not promulgated in others. This willingness to respond to the interests of the boardroom rather than the shop floor also extended to official appointments. In particular, her first minister of labor, Agusto Sanchez, was considered to be too prolabor and eased out within a year of his appointment. The TUCP was generally supportive of the Aquino government, but the KMU and other progressive unions resisted the conservative drift of her administration through strikes, demonstrations, and antigovernment rallies. The KMU gained influence through its leadership of the national strike, or Welga ng Bayan, in 1987, 1989, and 1990. From September to December 1990, the KMU led a series of general strikes in response to dramatic increases in the prices of petroleum products. These labor actions were noteworthy both because of a heightened level of conflict between strikers and the authorities and because of the participation of professionals and other middle-class groups. Repression of labor activists, widespread during the Marcos era, resurfaced early in the Aquino administration. In November 1986, the chairman of the KMU was murdered. The following January, the army opened fire on a march of the Peasant Movement of the Philippines (Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas--KMP) and their supporters who were protesting the lack of government action on land reform. Eighteen were killed and nearly 100 wounded. In 1990 the government charged two KMU labor leaders with sedition: Medardo Roda, the head of PISTON, a federation of drivers, and Crispin Beltran, the chairman of KMU. Old charges of slander and fraud dating back to 1967 and 1971 were revived against Beltran. The government also imprisoned the leader of the KMP, Jaime Tadeo, on ten-year-old fraud charges initiated against him by the Marcos government. After a 1990 violent strike, during which an estimated 500 participants were arrested, both the military and government officials suggested banning the KMU as a communist-front organization. Data as of June 1991