Labor Law: Book V; Title VI Chapter III Unfair Labor Practice of Labor Organization (Art. 260)

 Book V

Labor Relations

Title VI

Unfair Labor Practice

Chapter III

Unfair Labor Practice of Labor Organizations

Art. 260

Q: For what reasons may a union expel a member?

Q: For what reasons may a member charge a union with unfair labor practice?

Q: What is featherbedding?

Art. 260. Unfair labor practices of labor organizations.

It shall be unfair labor practice for a labor organization, its officers, agents or representatives:

(a) To restrain or coerce employees in the exercise of their right to self-organization. However, a labor organization shall have the right to prescribe its own rules with respect to the acquisition or retention of membership;

(b) To cause or attempt to cause an employer to discriminate against an employee, including discrimination against an employee with respect to whom membership in such organization has been denied or to terminate an employee on any ground other than the usual terms and conditions under which membership or continuation of membership is made available to other members;

(c) To violate the duty, or refuse to bargain collectively with the employer, provided it is the representative of the employees;

(d) To cause or attempt to cause an employer to pay or deliver or agree to pay or deliver any money or other things of value, in the nature of an exaction, for services which are not performed or not to be performed, including the demand for fee for union negotiations; 

(e) To ask for or accept negotiation or attorney’s fees from employers as part of the settlement of any issue in collective bargaining or any other dispute; or

(f) To violate a collective bargaining agreement.

The provisions of the preceding paragraph notwithstanding, only the officers, members of governing boards, representatives or agents or members of labor associations or organizations who have actually participated in, authorized or ratified unfair labor practices shall be held criminally liable.

Own Notes

• Unfair Labor Practices by Labor Organization
1. Restraint and Coercion
• restrain or coerce employees in the exercise of their right to self-organization
• however, a labor organization may have its own rules with respect to the acquisition or retention of membership
2. Discrimination
• discrimination against an employee to whom membership in such organization has been denied 
• terminate an employee on any ground other than the usual terms and conditions under which membership or continuation of membership is made available to other members
3. Violation of Duty
• violate the duty, or 
• refuse to bargain collectively with the employer, 
• provided it is the representative of the employees
4. Exaction of Employer
• to pay or deliver  any money or other things of value, in the nature of an exaction, for services which are not performed or not to be performed, including the demand for fee for union negotiations
5. Accept Settlement
• ask for or accept negotiation or attorney’s fees from employers as part of the settlement of any issue in collective bargaining or any other dispute
6. Violate CBA
• violate a collective bargaining agreement.
• Criminally Liable
• only the:
• governing boards of labor associations or organizations 
• representatives of labor associations or organizations 
• agents of labor associations or organizations 
• members of labor associations or organizations 
• who have actually:
• participated in unfair labor practices
• authorized unfair labor practices
• ratified unfair labor practices

ULP by Labor Organization

• Not only an employer but also a labor organization can be held guilty of ULP.
• For instance, the provision is violated by a union's restraining or coercing an employee in the exercise of his right to refuse to participate in or recognize a strike. 
• Similarly, violation is committed when a union threatens employees with bodily harm in order to force them to strike. 
• A union violates the law when, to restrain or coerce non-strikers from working during a strike:
• it assaults or threatens to assault them
• threatens them with loss of their jobs
• blocks their ingress to and egress from the plant
• damages non-strikers' automobiles or forces them off the highway
• physically prevents them from working
• sabotages the employer's property in their presence, thereby creating a general atmosphere of fear of violence and threatening the non-striker's jobs.
• Union security clauses are governed by law and by principles of justice, fair play, and legality. 
• Union security clauses cannot be used by union officials against an employer, much less their own members, except with a high sense of responsibility, fairness, prudence, and judiciousness.
• A union member may not be expelled from his union, and consequently from his job, for personal or impetuous reasons. Neither may he be expelled for causes foreign to the closed-shop agreement if one exists,. Nor may expulsion be done arbitrarily or whimsically. (See Manila Mandarin Employees, 154 SCRA 369 [1987].)
• As quoted initially under Article 249, the Supreme Court has made this significant statement:
  • Just as the Court has stricken down unjust exploitation of laborers by oppressive employers, so will it strike down unfair treatment by their own unworthy leaders. The Constitution enjoins the State to afford protection to labor. Fair dealing is equally demanded of unions as well as of employers in their dealings with employees. The union has been evolved as an organization of collective strength for the protection of labor against the unjust exactions of capital, but equally important is the requirement of fair dealing between the union and its members. The member-union relationship is fiduciary in nature. It arises out of two factors: one is the degree of dependence of the individual employee on the union organization; the other, a corollary of the first, is the comprehensive power vested in the union with respect to the individual. (See Heirs of Cruz, December 27, 1969.)

Featherbedding

• Article 260(d) refers to featherbedding.
• "Featherbedding" is the name given to employee practices which create or spread employment by unnecessarily maintaining or increasing the number of employees used, or the amount of time consumed to work on a particular job.
• "Featherbedding" is metaphor for "make-work" schemes.
• In spite of employee assertions that these so-called featherbedding practices are directly related to job security, health and safety, most courts at common law found these practices to be economically wasteful and without any legitimate employee justification.

Sweetheart Contract

• This Article also considers it ULP for a labor organization to ask for or accept negotiation or attorney's fees from the employer in settling a bargaining issue or a dispute. 
• Such act is not only unlawful. It is highly immoral and condemnable. It is selling the membership down the drain. The union doing this is a pollutant of the labor movement. 
• Where it happens, the resulting CBA will most likely be a "sweetheart contract," meaning a CBA that does not substantially improve the employees' wages and benefits. 
• It is a sweet deal between the employer and the union bargainers or union dealers. 
• Under the former Article 239(f), before RA. No. 9481 fast-tracked its amendment, one of the grounds for cancellation of union registration was "entering into collective bargaining agreements which provide terms and conditions of employment below minimum standards established by law." 
• But this ground was deleted, as noted in Article 247, by R.A. No. 9481 in 2007. 
• The reason for the deletion has not been explained.

Q: What are the unfair labor practices of labor organizations? Briefly explain each.

The following are the unfair labor practices of labor organizations: 

1. Restraint and Coercion 
• It occurs when a labor organization restrains or coerces employees in the exercise of their right to self-organization. 
2. Discrimination
• It occurs when a labor organization discriminates against an employee denied of membership or whose membership was terminated on any ground other than the usual.
3. Violation of Duty
• It occurs when a labor organization violates the duty to bargain collectively with the employer. 
4. Exaction of Employer
• It occurs when a labor organization exacts money from employer for services which are not to be performed. 
5. Accepting Settlement
• It occurs when a labor organization accepts negotiation or attorney’s fees from employers to settle any issue.
6. Violation of CBA 
• It occurs when a labor organization violates a collective bargaining agreement