Standard Chartered Bank Employees Union (NUBE) vs. Confesor
Standard Chartered Bank Employees Union (NUBE) vs. Confesor
*
G.R. No. 114974. June 16, 2004.
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* SECOND DIVISION.
309
The Antecedents
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310
3
through its President, Eddie
4
L. Divinagracia, sent a letter
5
containing its proposals covering political
6
provisions and
thirty-four (34) economic provisions. Included therein was
a list of the names7
of the members of the UnionÊs
negotiating panel.
In a Letter dated February 24, 1993, the Bank, through
its Country Manager Peter H. Harris, took note of the
UnionÊs proposals. The Bank attached its counter-proposal
8
to the non-economic provisions proposed by the Union. The
Bank posited that it would be in a better position to
present its counter-proposals on the economic items after
the Union9 had presented its justifications for the economic
proposals. The Bank, likewise, listed the members of its
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311
10
negotiating panel. The parties agreed to set meetings to
settle their differences on the proposed CBA.
Before the commencement of the negotiation, the Union,
through Divinagracia, suggested to the BankÊs Human
Resource Manager and head of the negotiating panel,
Cielito Diokno, that the bank lawyers should11 be excluded
from the negotiating team. The Bank acceded. Meanwhile,
Diokno suggested to Divinagracia that Jose P. Umali, Jr.,
the President of the National Union of Bank Employees
(NUBE), the federation to which the Union was12 affiliated,
be excluded from the UnionÊs negotiating panel. However,
Umali was retained as a member thereof.
On March 12, 1993, the parties met and set the ground
rules for the negotiation. Diokno suggested that the
negotiation be kept a „family affair.‰ The proposed 13
non-
economic provisions of the CBA were discussed first. Even
during the final reading of the noneconomic provisions on
May 4, 1993, there were still provisions on which the Union
and the Bank could not agree. Temporarily, the notation
„DEFERRED‰ was placed therein. Towards the end of the
meeting, the Union manifested that the same should be
changed to „DEADLOCKED‰ to indicate that such items
remained unresolved. Both parties agreed
14
to place the
notation „DEFERRED/DEADLOCKED.‰
On May 18, 1993, the negotiation for economic
provisions commenced. A presentation of the basis of the
UnionÊs economic proposals was made. The next meeting,
the Bank made a similar presentation. Towards the end of
the BankÊs presentation, Umali requested the Bank to
validate the UnionÊs „guestimates,‰
15
especially the figures
for the rank and file staff. In the succeeding meetings,
Umali chided the Bank for the insufficiency of its counter-
proposal
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312
Wage Increase:
1st Year·Reduced from 45% to 40%
2nd Year·Retain at 20%
Total = 60%
Group Hospitalization Insurance:
Maximum disability benefit reduced from P75,000.00 to
P60,000.00 per illness annually
Death Assistance:
For the employee·Reduced from P50,000.00 to P45,000.00
For Immediate Family Member·Reduced from P30,000.00 to
P25,000.00
18
Dental and all others·No change from the original demand.
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16 Rollo, p. 278.
17 Minutes of the Meeting of June 8, 1993; Rollo, p. 281.
18 Rollo, p. 284.
19 Ibid.
20 Rollo, pp. 284-285.
313
Dental:
Temporary Filling·P150.00
Tooth Extraction
Permanent Filling·200.00
Prophylaxis·250.00
Root Canal·From P2,000 per tooth
To: 1,800.00 per tooth
Death Assistance:
For Employees: From P45,000.00 to P40,000.00
For Immediate
22
Family Member: From P25,000.00 to
P20,000.00.
Management Union
Wage Increase
1st Year·P1,050.00 40%
23
2nd Year·850.00 19.0%
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21 Id., at p. 285.
22 Id., at p. 285.
23 Id.
314
314 SUPREME COURT REPORTS ANNOTATED
Standard Chartered Bank Employees Union (NUBE) vs.
Confesor
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24 Id.
25 Minutes of the Meeting of June 15, 1993; Rollo, p. 286.
26 Rollo, p. 683.
27 Blue-Sky Bargaining is defined as „unrealistic and unreasonable
demands in negotiations by either or both labor and management, where
neither concedes anything and demands the impossible.‰ It actually is
not collective bargaining at all. (Harold S. Roberts, RobertÊs Dictionary of
Industrial Relations (Revised Edition, 1971, p. 51); Rollo, p. 671.
28 Rollo, pp. 670-676.
315
2. Group Insurance
a) Hospitalization: P45,000.00
b) Life: P130,000.00
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316
c) Accident: P130,000.00
3. Medicine Allowance
Fourth year: P5,500.00
Fifth year: P6,000.00
4. Dental Benefits
Provision of dental retainer as proposed by the Bank,
but without diminishing existing benefits
5. Optical Allowance
Fourth year: P2,000.00
Fifth year: P2,500.00
6. Death Assistance
a) Employee: P30,000.00
b) Immediate Family Member: P5,000.00
7. Emergency Leave·Five (5) days for each contingency
8. Loans
a) Car Loan: P200,000.00
b) Housing Loan: It cannot be denied that the costs
attendant to having oneÊs own home have tremendously
gone up. The need, therefore, to improve on this benefit
cannot be overemphasized. Thus, the management is
urged to increase the existing and allowable housing
loan that the Bank extends to its employees to an
amount that 30will give meaning and substance to this
CBA benefit.
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317
The Union alleges that the SOLE acted with grave abuse of
discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction when
it found that the Bank did not commit unfair labor practice
when it interfered with the UnionÊs choice of negotiator. It
argued that, DioknoÊs suggestion that the negotiation be
limited as a „family affair‰ was tantamount to suggesting
that Federation President Jose Umali, Jr. be excluded from
the UnionÊs negotiating panel. It further argued that
contrary to the ruling of the public respondent, damage or
injury to the public interest need not be present in order for
unfair labor practice to prosper.
The Union, likewise, pointed out that the public
respondent failed to rule on the ULP charges arising from
the BankÊs surface bargaining. The Union contended that
the Bank merely went through the motions of collective
bargaining without the intent to
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33 Id., at p. 10.
34 Id., at p. 23.
35 Id., at p. 24.
318
The Issues
319
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(1) To interfere with, restrain or coerce employees in the exercise of their rights
guaranteed under Section 7;
...
(5) To refuse to bargain collectively with the representatives of his
employees, subject to the provisions of Section 9. (National Labor Management
Act)
Section 7. Employees shall have the right to self-organization, to form, join
or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively through representatives of
their own choosing; and to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose
of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection, and shall also have
the right to refrain from any or all of such activities except to the extent that
such right may be affected by an agreement requiring membership in a labor
organization as a condition of employment as authorized in Section 8(a)(3).
320
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...
Section 4. Unfair Labor Practices.·
(a) It shall be unfair labor practice for an employer:
(1) To interfere with, restrain or coerce employees in the exercise of their
rights guaranteed in Section three; (Republic Act No. 875)
321
VOL. 432, JUNE 16, 2004 321
Standard Chartered Bank Employees Union (NUBE) vs.
Confesor
Article 2
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322
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Sec. 6. The State shall afford protection to labor, especially to working women
and minors, and shall regulate the relations between landowner and tenant,
and between labor and capital in industry and in agriculture. The State may
provide for compulsory arbitration.
Sec. 9. The State shall afford protection to labor, promote full employment and
equality in employment, ensure equal work opportunities regardless of sex,
race, or creed, and regulate the relations between workers and employers. The
State shall assure the rights of workers to self-organization, collective
bargaining, security of tenure, and just and humane conditions of work. The
State may provide for compulsory arbitration.
46 Section 18, Article II of the 1987 Constitution provides: Sec. 18. The
State affirms labor as a primary social economic force. It shall protect the
rights of workers and promote their welfare.
47 Section 3, Article XIII on Social Justice and Human Rights reads as
follows:
LABOR
Sec. 3. The State shall afford full protection to labor, local and overseas,
organized and unorganized 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.
323
The State shall promote the principle of shared responsibility between workers
and employers and the preferential use of voluntary modes in settling disputes,
including conciliation, and shall enforce their mutual compliance therewith to
foster industrial peace.
The State shall regulate the relations between workers and employers,
recognizing the right of labor to its just share in the fruits of production and
the right of enterprises to reasonable return on investments, and to expansion
and growth.
324
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49 Rollo, p. 462.
50 K-Mart Corporation vs. National Labor Relations Commission, 626
F.2d 704 (1980).
325
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VOL. 432, JUNE 16, 2004 329
Pleyto vs. Lomboy
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