GR 155125; (December, 2009) (Digest)
G.R. No. 155125; December 4, 2009
YSS EMPLOYEES UNION – PHILIPPINE TRANSPORT AND GENERAL WORKERS ORGANIZATION, Petitioner, vs. YSS LABORATORIES, INC., Respondent.
FACTS
YSS Laboratories, Inc. (respondent), a pharmaceutical company, implemented a retrenchment program affecting 11 employees, nine of whom were officers and members of the YSS Employees Union (petitioner), the exclusive bargaining representative of the company’s rank-and-file employees. Claiming the retrenchment was discriminatory and amounted to union-busting, the union held a strike on April 20, 2001. After failed conciliation, the Secretary of Labor intervened and, on May 11, 2001, certified the labor dispute to the NLRC for compulsory arbitration. The certification order directed all striking workers to return to work within 24 hours and for the company to accept them back under the same terms and conditions prevailing before the strike. The company refused full compliance, arguing that the nine retrenched employees should be excluded from the return-to-work order as they were lawfully terminated. The union moved for contempt. On June 9, 2001, the Secretary of Labor issued another order directing the company to immediately accept back to work the nine retrenched employees and nine union officers (against whom an illegal strike case was filed) pending the determination of the validity of the retrenchment and the strike. The company filed a Petition for Certiorari with the Court of Appeals, which granted the petition and nullified the Secretary of Labor’s orders, finding the retrenchment valid and the strike illegal. The union’s motion for reconsideration was denied.
ISSUE
Whether the retrenched employees should be excluded from the operation of the return-to-work order issued by the Secretary of Labor pursuant to the certification of the labor dispute for compulsory arbitration.
RULING
No. The Supreme Court granted the petition and set aside the Decision and Resolution of the Court of Appeals. The Court held that the Secretary of Labor did not commit grave abuse of discretion in including the retrenched employees in the return-to-work order. When the Secretary of Labor certifies a labor dispute to the NLRC for compulsory arbitration under Article 263(g) of the Labor Code, the effect is that all striking employees shall immediately return to work and the employer shall readmit all workers under the same terms and conditions prevailing before the strike. This directive is absolute and immediately executory, regardless of the employer’s claim of a valid retrenchment. The purpose of the certification power is to restore the status quo ante bellum (the state of things before the strike) to enable the NLRC to resolve the dispute objectively. The legality of the retrenchment and the strike are issues that fall under the primary jurisdiction of the NLRC to decide in the compulsory arbitration proceedings. The return-to-work order is a preservative measure to maintain the existing conditions while the main case is pending. Therefore, pending the NLRC’s final determination on the validity of the retrenchment, the employer must comply with the return-to-work order and readmit all striking workers, including those allegedly retrenched.