TUCP asserts cooperative member-workers’ right to organize

Trade Union Congress Party-List (TUCP) Rep. Raymond D. C. Mendoza filed a bill to protect member-workers in cooperatives particularly their right to self-organization.

“For the longest time, members who also work as employees of their cooperatives are banned to organize themselves into a union” said Mendoza.

The Supreme Court has ruled, among other things, that cooperative member-workers are co-owners, thus they are not entitled to the right to organize for the purpose of collective bargaining. “That is a clear violation of basic workers’ rights and goes against the Constitution. The Constitution guarantees the rights of all workers to self-organization, collective bargaining and negotiations” Mendoza explained.

In order to correct this act of injustice, HB 6966 seeks to amend certain provisions in the Labor Code and states that employees of cooperatives, eventhough they are also shareholders, can still form a union for the purpose of collective bargaining.

“In my proposed legislation, cooperatives will be considered as employers and therefore have certain obligations to their workers” stressed Mendoza.

The proposed amendment will bring Philippine law into compliance with ILO Convention No. 87 on Freedom of Association, which the Philippines is obliged to observe as a member State of the International Labor Organization (ILO).