4 St. James Vs. Samahan Ng Manggagawa Sa St. James

4 St. James School of Quezon City v. Samahang Mangagawa sa St. James School of Quezon City.

alleges that it has 570 rank and file employees across its 5 campuses so that even if the 84 who voted are to be considered as employees of the school, it will not constitute the required majority vote required by the Labor Code.

G.R. No. 151326 November 23, 2005 Doctrine Facts 1. The Union filed a petition for certification election to determine the collective bargaining representative of the motor pool, construction and transportation employees the St. James. 2. The certification election was held wherein 84 out of eligible 139 voters cast their votes. 3. St. James alleged that it had 179 rank-and-file employees and none of them voted in the aforementioned certification election. The school also argues that the 84 voters were not its regular employees but construction workers of an independent contractor of the school. 4. Med-Arbiter ruled in favor the school. Held that the 84 voters were not anymore workers of St. James as evidenced by the roster of rank-and-file employees submitted by it because names of those 84 voters do not appear in the roster. 5. SOLE Reversed Med-Arbiter. Held that the union only seeks to represent the motor pool, construction and transportation departments and not all the rank and file employees of the school. The roster/list submitted by the school only contained the administrative, teaching and office personnel of the school. 6. CA affirmed SOLE. 1. Hence this petition where the school argues that that the certification election was conducted without a quorum saying that the 179 rank and file employees of the school did not take part in the certification election as they were on duty at the time and that the 84 employees who indeed voted were not the school’s employees but that of its independent contractor. It also

Issue 1. W/N The formation of the labor union is valid-YES 2. W/N the Certification Election is valid -YES Held 2. 1st Issue: Prior to the holding of the certification election, The school filed a petition to cancel the union’s registration of the ground of lack of EE-ER relationship as its employees are construction workers of an independent contractor of the school. This became the subject of another case wherein the Supreme Court therein ruled with finality that the said employees are employees of the school 3. 2nd. Issue: Validity of the Certification Election is premised upon compliance with Section 13, Rule XII 1, Book of the Omnibus Rules. With respect to the school’s allegations, the members of the union in this case were from its Tandang Sora

1 Section 13, Rule XII, Book V of the Omnibus Rules Implementing the Labor Code ("Omnibus Rules") provides: Section 13. Proclamation and certification of results by election officer; when proper. – Upon completion of the canvass there being a valid election, the election officer shall proclaim and certify as winner the union which obtained a majority of the valid votes cast under any of the following conditions: a) No protest had been filed or, even if one was filed, the same was not perfected within the five-day period for perfection of the protest;

Campus and according to its by-laws and constitution, it only seeks to represent the motor pool, transportation and construction employees of the said campus. Within that department in the Tandang Sora Campus, there are only 149 qualified voters, and since 84 of them voted, there is a quorum.

b) No challenge of eligibility issue was raised or even if one was raised, the resolution of the same will not materially change the result. For this purpose, the election officer shall immediately issue the corresponding certification; copy furnished all parties, which shall form part of the records of the case. The winning union shall have the rights, privileges and obligations of a duly certified collective bargaining representative from the time the certification is issued. The proclamation and certification so issued shall not be appealable.