Union protests arbiter ruling

A decision by a mediator-arbiter of the Department of Labor and Employment-National Capital Region (DoLE-NCR) involving a certification election (CE) issue among the rank-and-file employees of the country’s biggest bank subverts industrial democracy.

The Banco de Oro Employees Association (BdOEA)-National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE) questioned mediator-arbiter Benjo Santos Benavidez’s order for the conduct of a CE among the rank-and-file employees of Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. The decision disregards the will of the overwhelming majority of the rank-and-file (over 9,000 of around 10,500) who affirmed their membership with BdOEA as the exclusive and recognized bargaining representative in collective bargaining agreement (CBA) negotiations with the bank management.

The 9,000 plus BDOEA members had earlier signed a joint resolution that forms part of the manifestations submitted to DoLE-NCR in seeking the dismissal of the CE petition filed by a certain United Employees of Banco de Oro. The latter has never presented to the DoLE any document of its mandate or membership to justify its petition for a CE, contrary to law. The Labor Code, specifically Book V, Article 256, provides that before a petition for CE can be entertained, a labor organization must show proof that it has at least 25 percent of the total number of members of the bargaining agent.