The issue of whether or not employees of a cooperative are qualified to form or join a labor organization for purposes of collective bargaining has already been resolved and clarified in the case of Cooperative Rural Bank of Davao City, Inc. vs. Ferrer Calleja, et al. [G.R. No. 7795, September 26,1988] and reiterated in the cases of Batangas-Electric Cooperative Labor Union v. Young, et al. [G.R. Nos. 62386, 70880 and 74560 November 9, 1988] and San Jose City Electric Service Cooperative, Inc. v. Ministry of Labor and Employment, et al. [G.R. No. 77231, May 31, 1989] wherein the Court had stated that the right to collective bargaining is not available to an employee of a cooperative who at the same time is a member and co-owner thereof. With respect, however, to employees who are neither members nor co-owners of the cooperative they are entitled to exercise the rights to self-organization, collective bargaining and negotiation as mandated by the 1987 Constitution and applicable statutes.
Respondent director argues that to deny the members of petitioner cooperative the right to form, assist or join a labor union of their own choice for purposes of collective bargaining would amount to a patent violation of their right to self-organization. She points out that:
Albeit a person assumes a dual capacity as rank and file employee and as member of a certain cooperative does not militate, as in the instant case, against his/her exercise of the right to self-organization and to collective bargaining guaranteed by the Constitution and Labor Code because, while so doing, he/she is acting in his/her capacity as rank and file employee thereof. It may be added that while the employees concerned became members of petitioner cooperative, their status employment as rank and filers who are hired for fixed compensation had not changed. They still do not actually participate in the management of the cooperative as said function is entrusted to the Board of Directors and to the elected or appointed officers thereof. They are not vested with the powers and prerogatives to lay down and execute managerial policies; to hire, transfer, suspend, lay-off, recall, discharge, assign or discipline employees; and/or to effectively recommend such managerial functions [Comment of Respondent Director, p. 4; Rollo, p. 125.]
Private respondent BELU concurs with the above contention of respondent director and, additionally, claims that since membership in petitioner cooperative is only nominal, the rank and file employees who are members thereof should not be deprived of their right to self-organization.
The above contentions are untenable. Contrary to respondents' claim, the fact that the members-employees of petitioner do not participate in the actual management of the cooperative does not make them eligible to form, assist or join a labor organization for the purpose of collective bargaining with petitioner. The Court's ruling in the Davao City case that members of cooperative cannot join a labor union for purposes of collective bargaining was based on the fact that as members of the cooperative they are co-owners thereof. As such, they cannot invoke the right to collective bargaining for "certainly an owner cannot bargain with himself or his co-owners." [Cooperative Rural Bank of Davao City, Inc. v. Ferrer-Calleja, et al., supra]. It is the fact of ownership of the cooperative, and not involvement in the management thereof, which disqualifies a member from joining any labor organization within the cooperative. Thus, irrespective of the degree of their participation in the actual management of the cooperative, all members thereof cannot form, assist or join a labor organization for the purpose of collective bargaining.
Respondent union further claims that if nominal ownership in a cooperative is "enough to take away the constitutional protections afforded to labor, then there would be no hindrance for employers to grant, on a scheme of generous profit sharing, stock bonuses to their employees and thereafter claim that since their employees are not stockholders [of the corporation], albeit in a minimal and involuntary manner, they are now also co-owners and thus disqualified to form unions." To allow this, BELU argues, would be "to allow the floodgates of destruction to be opened upon the rights of labor which the Constitution endeavors to protect and which welfare it promises to promote." [Comment of BELU, p. 10; Rollo, p. 100].
The above contention of respondent union is based on the erroneous presumption that membership in a cooperative is the same as ownership of stocks in ordinary corporations. While cooperatives may exercise some of the rights and privileges given to ordinary corporations provided under existing laws, such cooperatives enjoy other privileges not granted to the latter [See Sections 4, 5, 6, and 8, Pres. Decree No. 175; Cooperative Rural Bank of Davao City v. Ferrer-Calleja, supra]. Similarly, members of cooperatives have rights and obligations different from those of stockholders of ordinary corporations. It was precisely because of the special nature of cooperatives, that the Court held in the Davao City case that members-employees thereof cannot form or join a labor union for purposes of collective bargaining. The Court held that:
A cooperative ... is by its nature different from an ordinary business concern being run either by persons, partnerships, or corporations. Its owners and/or members are the ones who run and operate the business while the others are its employees. As above stated, irrespective of the number of shares owned by each member they are entitled to cast one vote each in deciding upon the affairs of the cooperative. Their share capital earn limited interest. They enjoy special privileges as-exemption from income tax and sales taxes, preferential right to supply their products to State agencies and even exemption from the minimum wage laws.
An employee therefore of such a cooperative who is a member and co-owner thereof cannot invoke the right to collective bargaining for certainly an owner cannot bargain with himself or his co-owners.
No comments:
Post a Comment