Rudiments of Union Organizing: Its

Challenges
Scope of Discussion

• Four workers basic rights in workplaces

• Forms of Workers’ Organization
• Basic steps in union organizing
• Unfair labor practices in the Philippines
• Pressing labor sector issues
• Way ahead
Objectives:
After the discussion participants shall be able to:
• Enumerate the different forms of worker’s organization
• Understand the 4 basic rights of workers and employees in their
workplaces
• Have an introductory knowledge on the basic steps in union
organizing
• Identify unfair labor practices
Four Workers’ Basic Rights in their
Workplaces

1. Right to know (Access to information that could affect their lives

and capability to work)
2. Right to Participate in keeping the workplaces safe, healthy, secured,
and to ensure company policies that would protect their welfare and
well being.
3. Right to refuse work in an unsafe environment
4. Right to job protection and discrimination.
Forms or workers organization
• Union – A workers’ and employees’ organization organized in
workplaces for collective bargaining purposes.
Forms. . .
Labor federations – A unified organized group of worker’s unions and
workers’ organization.
Functions:
• Represent their local unions in the collective bargaining negotiations
• To lobby for labor laws or amendments of labor laws in pursuing for
the welfare of workers and employees in general
• Coordinate concerted mass action in support for their local union
members in attaining their objectives in plant level activities.
• Advance their members’ interest and welfare in the industry.
Forms. . .
Labor Center – is an aggrupation of workers’ unions, workers’
organizations, and labor federation, bonded with common interests and
or goals.
Forms. . .
Workers’ Cooperative – A workers’ organization for economic activity
and mutual aid.

Craft unions – refers to workers organizations organized based on a

particular craft or skills.

Workers’ Political Party – a workers’ organization for political

engagement in the parliament and or to pursue their political aims and
objectives.
Basic Steps in union organizing
1. Conduct a thorough social investigation of the enterprise or company
where workers are to be organized.
What you need to know:
• Corporate Officers
• Corporate Culture (Vision, Mission, Values)
• Corporate legal counsel on labor and employee’s affairs
• Sister companies and subsidiaries
• Total number of workforce
• Total number of regular rank and file workers and or employees.
What you need to know. . .
• Corporate financial statements for the past 5 years, and of the resent.
• Workers working condition and labor issues they confront inside the
plant.
• Attitude and willingness of the workers to get organized.
2. Get the workers organized
What to do:
• Consolidate your contact persons willing to organize their union
• Assist in the formation of core officers; train them for leadership
capabilities
• Assist the core leaders in waging an information education campaign
among the rank and file.
• Expand the membership
• Complete needed requirements and submit to the Dept. Of Labor to get a
legal identity of the union as a bargaining unit of the workers for a
collective bargaining negotiations.
3. File a petition for union recognition,
prepare and campaign for union recognition

Requirement for recognition:

• Set of elected union officials.
• List of union membership. Membership should cover 25% of the total
number of regular rank and file.
• Union book of accounts
• Get at least a simple majority votes in a local certification election to
be conducted by the DOLE.
Challenges
• Company does not recognize the union; files a petition for a no union.
Campaigns for a “no” vote against union recognition
• Intimidate and buy-off union leaders and members
• Put up a “dummy” union to challenge the legitimate organized union
by the workers.
• Lock out the workers from the company and do a “run away” shop
• Fire out regular active union officers and members and hire
contractuals.
Unfair Labor Practices in the Philippines
Unfair Labor Practices (ULP) violates the constitutional rights of
workers and employees to self organization, inimical to legitimate
interest of both labor and management including to bargain collectively
• Union busting
• Refusing to bargain collectively
• Non-implementation or partial implementation of collective
bargaining agreement (CBA)
• Violation of CBA
ULP. . .
• Violation of the labor code
• Unjust compensation
• Unreasonable work schedule
• Unjust termination
• Refusal to workers to work.
• Workplace discrimination.
Forms of Concerted action to seek grievance

• Non-work stoppage actions such as; grievance forum, petition signing,

office trooping, postering, non-wearing of proper uniform, noise
barrage, picketing, etc. as long as it doesn’t directly affect production
operations.
• Any forms that would affect production operations such as boycott
overtime, slow down, and sit-down strike
• Strike is a temporary form of work stoppage.
• Mass filing of labor cases in designated government agencies.
Changing workplaces, development and
issues workers confront today

• Neo-liberal economic policies and the reorganization of plant level

production line to global framework.
• Hiring of labor only contracting workers
• Outsourcing
• Modernization of technology, computerization, and introduction of
robotics in production operations
• Union busting and refusal to bargain collectively
 Way ahead for worker’s organization and movement

• Assert the right to organize and bargain collectively

• Defend trade unionism
• Adapt to the changing “environment” of workplaces.
• Adopt and or create new forms of organization that could protect the
workers livelihood and welfare
• Push and lobby for new laws as protective measures to security of tenure,
right to organize in workplaces and manning agencies, and the right to
bargain for wages and other economic and non-economic benefits
• Broaden and expand alliance and coalition work among workers both
local, national and in the international