Labor Dispute - any controversy concerning terms or conditions of employment, or concerning the association or representation of persons in negotiating, fixing,

maintaining, changing, or seeking to arrange terms or conditions of employment, regardless of whether or not the disputants stand in the proximate relation of employer and employee; Or simply, a deviation of opinion between an employer and employee. Causes of Disputes : 1. Economic causes issues relating to compensation like wages, bonus, allowances, and conditions for work, working hours, leave and holidays without pay, unjust layoffs and retrenchments 2. Non-economic causes. - include victimization of workers, ill treatment by staff members, sympathetic strikes, political factors, indiscipline etc. (DISPLAY FIGURE NO. 1 ) The Process of Labor Dispute Settlement System in the Philippines The Labor Dispute Settlement institutional framework of the Philippines is governed by the principles enshrined in Article XIII of the Philippine Constitution, particularly on shared responsibility between workers and employers, the preferential use of voluntary modes of settling disputes, and the rights of labor to its just share in the fruits of production and the right of the enterprises to reasonable returns of investments and to expansion and growth. The law encourages the bipartite system, which means that basically the employer employees themselves must deal with their problems in a manner that is mutually suits them best. Bipartite mechanism is an inter-party approach of settling disputes at plant level, where workers and employers settled their own grievances through grievance machineries (GM), labor management councils (LMC), joint consultative councils (JCC), among others. When labor disputes require the intervention of government, the figure below shows how the process of labor dispute settlement system operates. These mechanisms are pursued as program areas of the different DOLE agencies, as seen by SLIDE NO. 1:

Explanation on Slide NO. 1

1. The first box covers the Compulsory Arbitration process of disputes under the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC). The Labor Arbiter is clothed with the original and exclusive authority to conduct compulsory arbitration under Article 217 of the Labor Code. The cases falling under the original and exclusive jurisdiction of labor arbiter includes: a) Unfair Labor Practice(ULP), b) termination cases, c)enforcement of labor standard with claim exceeding P5,000.00 per individual, d)damages arising from employer-employee relationship, e) violation of compromise agreement, f) execution of award of voluntary arbitrator, g)in case of absence or incapacity of the latter, h) money claims of OFWs, i) wage distortion cases where there is no CBA, j) illegality of strikes and lock-outs. Generally, disputants before labor arbiters are called to three mandatory conciliation hearings where the labor arbiter or more often, her assistant helps them settle amicablyi. If the parties fail to settle their disputes, they submit pleadings in support of each of their respective arguments and thereafter, the dispute is considered submitted for decision by labor arbiter. 2. The second box represents the inspectorate machinery of the Department of Labor and Employment, under the mandate of the DOLE Regional Directors. It is designed to facilitate enforcement of labor standards laws. Among the labor disputes within the jurisdiction of the Regional Director includes: a) labor standards enforcement, b) occupational safety and health violations, c) money claims arising from labor standards cases without claim for reinstatement.

3. (DISPLAY SLIDE NO. 3 ) 4. The fourth box represents the conciliation-mediation machinery within the jurisdiction of Conciliator-Mediator of National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB). It involves the following issues: a) Preventive Mediation - which consist of all issues not settled by both parties at plant level negotiation; b) Notice of Strike and Lock-outs arising out of strikable issues like Collective Bargaining Agreement deadlock, unfair labor practice, and union busting. The Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) of disputes - is employed by the conciliatorsmediators. The conciliators-mediators merely assist parties reach settlement, facilitate nonadversarial hearings but have no power to decide. The disputes are resolved by mere agreement of the parties, except under Article 263 (g) of the Labor Code or assumption of jurisdiction. The unresolved grievable issues subjected to the plant level grievance machinery or to the Labor Management Council (LMC) can also be subjected to the regional branch negotiation. The NCMB is mandated to perform preventive mediation and conciliation functions, as well as provide counselling and preventive mediation assistance. In the NCMB Manual of Procedures for Conciliation and Preventive Mediation Cases, preventive mediation p ertains to potential labor disputes that are the subject of a formal or informal request for conciliation and mediation assistance sought by either or both parties or upon the initiative of the NCMB to avoid the occurrence of actual labor disputes. Under the rules implementing the Labor Code, the NCMB may, upon request of either or both parties or upon its own initiative, provide conciliation-mediation services to labor disputes other than notices of strikes or lockouts. Conciliation is a mild form of intervention by a neutral party, who relies on persuasive expertise and takes an active role in assisting parties to amicably settle a dispute. Mediation, on the other hand, involves a third party neutral who advises the parties and offers solutions of alternatives to the problems with the end in view of assisting them towards amicably settling a dispute.[13]This distinction between conciliation and mediation has been reduced to an academic exercise, considering the NCMB renders both services through its corps of conciliators-mediators. 5. The fifth box represents the voluntary arbitration machinery, which has the authority over unresolved grievances arising from the interpretation or implementation of collective bargaining agreements and those arising from the interpretation or enforcement of company personnel policies under Article 261 of the Labor Code. Violations of CBA except those which are gross in character and wage distortion under R.A. 6971 are likewise resolved through voluntary arbitration. (DISPLAY FIGURE NO. 2 ) Figure 2 shows how labor disputes are resolved and the mechanism in-charged in its settlement. Alternative Mode of Resolution (ADR) is supposedly at the base of the institutional triangle. ADR is the first line of defense in DOLE settlement system. Ideally, settlement of disputes start from the plant level until it is elevated to the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) through any of the following procedures: dispute prevention through employees involvement and participation; workplace cooperation; collective bargaining; grievance procedures; voluntary arbitration; conciliation/mediation.

Compulsory Arbitration is at the middle layer of the triangle. Compulsory arbitration is a resolution of dispute by a disinterested third party, whose decision is binding on parties, where such third party is neutral and appointed by the government. The appointed compulsory arbitrators includes National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC); the Bureau of Labor Relations (BLR); DOLE Regional Offices; and the DOLE Secretary. The compulsory arbitration adjudication of cases may flow from regional level up to the Supreme Court, in the following order: from DOLE Regional Level including Provincial or Field Offices, to DOLE Central Authority, including the NLRC,BLR and Secretary of Labor to Court of Appeals (under Rule 65), and up to Supreme Court (under Rule 45) Strikes and Lock-outs Intervention is at the apex of the triangle. During strikes or lock-outs of industries indispensable to national interest, the state intervenes in its exercise of police power, through assumption of jurisdiction (AJ). This power is exercised only in extreme situations, only when the national interest is at stake, as provided by Article 263 (g) of the Labor Code. (DISPLAY FIGURE NO. 3 ) Process of Settlement. The steps/procedures being followed in the conduct of conciliation-mediation proceedings are: a) Case receipt/docketing upon receipt of cases, the parties will be called within 7- day period, however if the case is union busting, the parties should be called at once; b) Conduct of Conciliation Conference/Hearing hearing/conference will be called to validate the substantive issues and concerns. c) Mediation Conference includes the recapitulation of substantive points to be considered during the first conference/hearing, followed by agreement of parties on the process involve and on all the issues surfaced on previous hearings. d) Settlement/Resolution of Disputes when both parties came to terms, agreements will be drafted in form of resolutions. If parties failed to agree, the case will be returned back at the plant level LMC or endorsed to Voluntary Arbitration.