Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2015, published 105th ILC session (2016)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Philippines (Ratification: 1953)

Article 2 of the Convention. Registration requirements for trade unions in the public sector. The Committee notes the Government’s reply to the observations of the Center for United and Progressive Labor (SENTRO) that the requirements for registration in the public sector are overly stringent, indicating that the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Executive Order No. 180, the governing legislation on labour relations in the public sector, are being reviewed by the technical working group of the tripartite Public Sector Labour-Management Council (PSLMC), which streamlines the requirements for the establishment of public sector unions to promote self-organization in the sector. The Government also emphasizes that the unionization rate in the public sector peaked in 2014. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on any developments with regard to the review of registration requirements for trade unions in the public sector and to provide a copy of any new regulations adopted.

Article 3. Right of workers’ organizations to organize their administration and activities and to formulate their programmes without interference by the public authorities. The Committee observes that in accordance with section 226 of the Labour Code, the Bureau of Labour Relations and the Labour Divisions in the Department of Labour and Employment (DOLE) regional offices, have the original and exclusive authority to act, either at their own initiative or upon request of either or both parties, on all inter-union and intra-union conflicts, and all disputes, grievances or problems arising from or affecting labour-management relations in all workplaces, except those arising from the implementation or interpretation of collective bargaining agreements. The Committee requests the Government to provide further information on the application of section 226 of the Labour Code in practice, including examples of disputes referred to the Bureau of Labour Relations, and any circumstances in which recourse to this mechanism may result in compulsory arbitration.

[The Government is asked to supply full particulars to the Conference at its 105th Session and to reply in detail to the present comments in 2016.]