LC designed to be a dynamic & growing body of laws w/c will reflect continually the lessons of practical application & experience 7 Principles Underlying the code 1. Labor relations must be made both responsive & responsible to national d evt 2. Labor laws/labor relations during a period of national emergency must su bstitute rationality for confrontation; ?strikes or lockouts give way to a ratio nal process w/c is arbitration 3. Laggard justice in the labor field is injurious to the workers, the EERS & the public; labor justice can be made expeditious w/o sacrificing due process . 4. Manpower devt & EENT must be regarded as a major dimension of labor poli cy, for there can be no real equality of bargaining power under conditions of se vere mass unemployment. 5. There is a global labor market available to qualified Filipinos, esp tho se who are unemployed or whose EENT is tantamount to unemployment bcoz of their very little earnings. 6. Labor laws must command adequate resources & acquire a capable machinery for effective & sustained implementation; when labor laws cannot be enforced, b oth EERS & the workers are penalized, & only a corrupt few (those who are in cha rge of implementation) may get the reward they don t deserve. 7. There shld be popular participation in national policy-making through wh at is now called tripartism. Some Labor Laws before the Passage of the Code Pd #21 created the NLRC ( to investigate, decide & settle all disputes bet EERS & EES RA # 875: The Industrial Peace Act (the Magna Carta of Labor) RA #946: Blue Sunday Law forbids commercial, industrial or agri enterprises to o pen on any Sunday, Xmas Day, New Year s Day, Holy Thurs & Good Friday. RA #1787: The Termination Pay Law enumerated the just causes for terminating an EENT w/o a definite period and allowed EERS to separate an EE by serving a 15-da y notice per yr of service or, by paying an equivalent separation pay. Significance of Other Laws 1. Foreign Decisions numerous LC provisions are substantially similar to th e Industrial Peace Act 2. The Civil Code describes the nature of labor mgt relations: The relations bet capital & labor are not merely contractual. They are so impress ed w/ public interest that labor contracts must yield to the common good. ?such contracts are subj. to the special laws on labor unions, collective bargaining, strikes & lockouts, closed shop, wages, working conditions, hrs of labor & simil ar subjs. Art 1700 Neither capital nor labor shall act oppressively against the other, or impair the interest or convenience of the public Art 1701. 3. RPC punishes the use of violence or threats by either EER or EE. 4. Special Laws (SSS law, GSIS law, Agrarian Reform law, the 13th- month pa y law, the Magna Carta for Public Health Workers) Art 3. [Declaration of Basic Polici] The State shall afford protection to labor, promote full EENT, ensure equal work opportunities regardless of sex, race or c reed, and regulate the relations bet workers & EERS. The State shall assure the rights of workers to self-org, collective bargaining, security of tenure, and ju st & humane conditions of work. Balanced Approach shared responsibility. Worker & EER sectors are interdependent . Art4. [Construction in Favor of Labor] All doubts in the implementation & interp retation of the provisions of this Code, including its IRRs, shall be resolved i n favor of labor.
Interpretation & Construction
policy is to extend the decree s applicability to a greater number of EES to enable them to avail of the benefits under the law (Lib eral approach is adopted) Concern for the Lowly Worker SC reaffirms its concern for the lowly worker who, often at his EER s mercy, must look up to the law for his protection. (Reason: the EER stands on higher footing than the EE: (1,) There is greater supply than dem and for labor; (2) the need for EENT by labor comes from vital & even desperate necessity.) Mgt Rights entitled to respect & enforcement in the interest of simple fair play . 1. R to