1. For What reasons may union hold a strike?

- The right to strike is a constitutional and legal right of the workers as the employers have the
inherent and statutory right to lockout, all within the context of labor relations and collective
bargaining. It is means of last resort and presupposes that the duty to bargain in good
faith has been fulfilled and other voluntary modes of dispute settlement have been tried and
exhausted.

- Strikes are authorized for as long as they comply with the strict requirements under the Labor
Code, and workers who organize or participate in illegal strikes may be subject to dismissal.

2. Why do we allow strikes at the workplace? Is Strike a solution or a problem?

- The Constitution and labor laws recognize workers’ rights to strike and the employer’s right to
lock them out. However, no labor union may strike, and no employer may declare a lockout, on
grounds involving inter-union and intra-union disputes. A strike or lockout is valid only in case of
a collective bargaining deadlock—or unfair labor practices by the employer or the union.

- The State shall afford full protection to labor, local and overseas, organized and unorganized,
and promote full employment and equality of employment opportunities for all. It shall
guarantee the rights of all workers to self-organization, collective bargaining and negotiations,
and peaceful concerted activities, including the right to strike in accordance with law. They
shall be entitled to security of tenure, humane conditions of work, and a living wage. They shall
also participate in policy and decision-making processes affecting their rights and benefits as
may be provided by law.

3. What makes strike illegal?

- Generally, a strike is considered legal but it will considered an illegal one if it falls among
enumerated in Article 264 of the Labor Code:

1. Declaring a strike or lockout on grounds involving inter-union and intra-union disputes or

on issues brought to voluntary or compulsory arbitration.

2. Declaring a strike or lockout without first having bargained collectively or without first
having filed the required notice or without the necessary strike or lockout vote first having been
obtained and reported to the Regional Branch of the NCMB.

Declaring a strike or lockout in defiance of a cease-and-desist order, or an order for the

striking employees to return to work and for the employer to accept the workers after assumption of
jurisdiction by the President or Secretary of Labor and Employment, or after certification or submission
of the dispute to compulsory or voluntary arbitration, or during the pendency of a case involving the
authorized grounds for the strike or lockout.
 4. Obstructing, impending or interfering with by force, violence, coercion, threats or
intimidation any peaceful picketing by employees during any labor controversy or in the exercise of their
right to self-organization or collective bargaining, or aiding or abetting such obstruction or interference.

5. Employing any strike breaker or being employed as a strike-breaker.

6. No public official or employee, including officers and personnel of the Armed Forces of the
Philippines, of the Philippine National Police, or any armed person shall bring in, introduce or escort, in
any manner, any individual who seeks to replace strikers in entering or leaving the premises of a strike
area, or work in place of strikers.

Nothing herein shall be interpreted to prevent the aforementioned officials, employees or peace
officers from taking any measure necessary to maintain peace and order and/or to protect life and
property.

7. Stationary picket and the use of means like placing of objects to constitute permanent
blockade or to effectively close points of entry or exit in company premises.

8. Any act of violence, coercion or intimidation by any picketer.

9. The obstruction of the free ingress to or egress from the employer’s premises for lawful
purposes.

10. Obstruction of public thoroughfares while engaged in picketing.

4. May a union member be compelled to join a strike?

- Yes. The need for assurance that the majority of the union members support the strike cannot
be gainsaid. Strike is usually the last weapon of labor to compel capital to concede to its bargaining
demands or to defend itself against unfair labor practices of management. It is a weapon that can either
breathe life to or destroy the union and its members in their struggle with management for a more
equitable due of their labors. The decision to wield the weapon of strike must, therefore, rest on a
rational basis, free from emotionalism, unswayed by the tempers and tantrums of a few hotheads, and
firmly focused on the legitimate interest of the union which should not, however, be antithetical to the
public welfare.

- Thus, our laws require the decision to strike to be the consensus of the majority for while the
majority is not infallible, still, it is the best hedge against haste and error. In addition, a majority vote
assures the union it will go to war against management with the strength derived from unity and hence,
with better chance to succeed. (Lapanday Workers Union, Tomas N. Basco vs. NLRC and Lapanday
Agricultural Development Corporation, G.R. Nos. 95494-97, 7 September 1995)
5.Does an employer need prior approval of DOLE to dismiss illegal strikes?

- NO. The employer or the union may file the proper petition to the appropriate Arbitration
Branch of the NLRC to seek a declaration of the illegality of the strike or lockout subject to the provision
of Article 263 (g). It shall be the duty of the Labor Arbiter concerned to act on the case immediately and
dispose of the same subject only to the requirements of due process.

- If a strike is declared illegal, the employer may be authorized to terminate the employment of
union officials who knowingly participated in the illegal strike and/or any worker or union officer who
knowingly participated in the commission of other illegal acts during the strike.

- In general, the Labor Arbiter in the appropriate Arbitration Branch of the National Labor
Relations Commission has the power to determine questions involving the legality or the illegality of a
strike or lockout upon the filing of a proper complaint and after due hearing.

6. May the employer hire workers to replace the strikers during strike?

- If the worker is engaged in a lawful strike or those Employees who strike to protest an unfair
labor practice committed by their employer are called unfair labor practice strikers. Such strikers can be
neither discharged nor permanently replaced. When the strike ends, unfair labor practice strikers,
absent serious misconduct on their part, are entitled to have their jobs back even if employees hired to
do their work have to be discharged. However, any union officer who knowingly participates in an
illegal strike and any worker or union officer who knowingly participates in the commission of illegal
acts during a strike may be declared to have lost his employment status.

- Employers are allowed to hire replacement workers during unfair labor practice strikes and
economic strikes.

- Economic strikers who are striking as a result of the employers failure to reach an agreement
over wages or other working conditions may be permanently replaced but cannot be terminated.
Strikers who are striking as a result of an unfair labor practice cannot be permanently replaced or
terminated.

- At the end of a strike, unfair labor practice strikers are entitled to be reinstated to their former
positions (even if that means the employer has to terminate replacement workers) as long as they have
not participated in any misconduct. Economic strikers who offer to return to work after the employer
has hired permanent replacement workers are not entitled to reinstatement. However, if they can't find
equivalent employment elsewhere, they are entitled to be recalled as job openings become available.
7. May employees hold protest actions without going to strike?

- Yes. Picketing involves merely the marching to and from at the premises of the employer,
usually accompanied by the display of placards and other signs making known the facts involved in a
labor dispute. As applied to a labor dispute, to picket means the stationing of one or more persons to
observe and attempt to observe. The purpose of pickets is said to be a means of peaceable persuasion.
(SANTA ROSA COCA-COLA PLANT EMPLOYEES UNION v COCA- COLA BOTTLERS INC., G.R. Nos. 164302-
03)

- In the case of TOYOTA MOTOR PHILIPPINES CORPORATION V TOYOTA MOTOR PHILS. CORP.
WORKERS ASSOCIATION (TMPCWA), G.R. Nos. 158798-99, the Supreme Court Stated that “Applying
pertinent legal provisions and jurisprudence, we rule that the protest actions undertaken by the Union
officials and members on February 21 to 23, 2001 are not valid and proper exercises of their right to
assemble and ask government for redress of their complaints, but are illegal strikes in breach of the
Labor Code. The Unions position is weakened by the lack of permit from the City of Manila to hold
rallies. Shrouded as demonstrations, they were in reality temporary stoppages of work perpetrated
through the concerted action of the employees who deliberately failed to report for work on the
convenient excuse that they will hold a rally at the BLR and DOLE offices in Intramuros, Manila, on
February 21 to 23, 2001. The purported reason for these protest actions was to safeguard their rights
against any abuse which the med-arbiter may commit against their cause. However, the Union failed to
advance convincing proof that the med-arbiter was biased against them. The acts of the med-arbiter in
the performance of his duties are presumed regular. Sans ample evidence to the contrary,
the Union was unable to justify the February 2001 mass actions. What comes to the fore is that the
decision not to work for two days was designed and calculated to cripple the manufacturing arm
of Toyota. It becomes obvious that the real and ultimate goal of the Union is to coerce Toyota to finally
acknowledge the Union as the sole bargaining agent of the company. This is not a legal and valid
exercise of the right of assembly and to demand redress of grievance”.