THE Supreme Court (SC) has affirmed the dismissal of 227 employees of Toyota Motor Philippines Corp., one of the country’s largest vehicle manufacturers, for conducting illegal strikes on February and May 2001 which crippled the company’s operations and resulted in losses amounting to more than P53 million.

In a 48-page decision penned by Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr., the Court’s Second Division junked the petition filed by the Toyota Motor Phils. Corp. Workers Association  seeking to set aside the February 27, 2003, decision of the Court of Appeal (CA)s which affirmed the August 9, 2001 decision and September 14, 2001, resolution of the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) dismissing its members and officers who participated in the illegal strikes.

Likewise, the SC removed the CA’s grant of severance compensation to the dismissed employees, stating that their participation in the illegal strikes is considered a “serious misconduct.”

The Court junked the contention of the union that the NLRC violated its right to due process when it disregarded its position paper in deciding Toyota’s petition to declare the strike illegal.

It also did not give credence to their claim that the protest actions the workers conducted cannot be considered illegal strikes but merely a legitimate exercise of their right to peaceably assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances.

“What comes to 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 to assembly and to demand redress of grievance,” the Court said.

The union decided to go on strike from February 21 to 23 and May 23 and 28 for the refusal of Toyota to negotiate its collective bargaining- agreement proposal and for union busting.

The dismissed employees barricaded the gates of Toyota’s Bicutan, Taguig City, and Santa Rosa, Laguna, plants, paralyzing the company’s operations.

On August 9, 2001, the NLRC declared the strikes staged by the union from February 21 to 23, 2001, and May 23 and 28, 2001, as illegal.

The NLRC stressed that the union failed to comply with the procedural requirements of a valid strike under the Labor Code.

The NLRC found the strikes illegal as they violated Article 264 of the Labor Code, which prescribes any strike or lockout after jurisdiction is assumed over the dispute by the president or the secretary of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

In its February 27, 2003, decision, the CA affirmed the decision of the NLRC to declare the strikes illegal and to award severance compensation to the dismissed union officers and members.

In upholding the dismissal of the employees, the Court noted that despite being afforded due process, the union still failed to submit its position paper on the petition filed by Toyota to declare the strike illegal.

“If he does not avail himself of the chance to be heard, then it is deemed waived or forfeited without violating the constitutional guarantee. Thus, there was no violation of the union’s right to due process on the part of the NLRC,” the SC added.

The SC added that the strikes were undertaken without complying with requirements of a valid strike under Article 263 of the Labor Code.

It noted that the union failed to give notice of strike to the DOLE 30 days before the intended date of strike or 15 days in case of unfair labor practice, failed to give the strike vote approved by a majority of the total union membership in the bargaining unit concerned obtained by secret ballot in a meeting called for that purposes, and was unable to provide notice given to the DOLE of the results of the voting at least seven days before the strike.

“These requirements are mandatory, and the failure of a union to comply with them renders the strike illegal,” the SC said.

Concurring with the ruling were Associate Justices Leonardo Quisumbing, Antonio Carpio, Conchita Carpio Morales and Dante Tinga.

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THE Supreme Court (SC) has affirmed the dismissal of 227 employees of Toyota Motor Philippines Corp., one of the country’s largest vehicle manufacturers, for conducting illegal strikes on February and May 2001 which crippled the company’s operations and resulted in losses amounting to more than P53 million.

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