1. Determination of Constituency

Test to determine the constituency of an appropriate bargaining unit

The law fixes no maximum or minimum number of bargaining units. Union members come from the CBU and several rival unions can come from the CBU. The representative is the union, and the group represented is the CBU.

Factors in Determining Community of Interest

• Similarity in the scale and manner of determining earnings
• Similarity in employment benefits, hours of work and other terms and conditions of employment
• Similarity in the kinds of work performed
• Similarity in the qualifications, skills and training of the employees
• Frequency of contact or interchange among the employees
• Geographic proximity
• Continuity or integration of production process
• Common supervision and determination of labor-relations policy
• History of collective bargaining
• Desires of the affected employees
• Extent of union organization (Azucena Vol. I, 7th ed., p. 461).

Globe doctrine: When the appropriate bargaining unit is in doubt, the affected employees’ wishes may be ascertained through an election and considered alongside community-of-interest factors in determining the unit; those wishes are not conclusive. (Kapisanan ng mga Manggagawa sa Manila Railroad Company v. Yard Crew Union, G.R. Nos. L-16292-94, 1960)

Geography and Location play a significant role in determining community of interests if:

• The separation between the camps and the different kinds of work in each all militate in favor of the system of separate bargaining units;
• When the problems and interests of the workers are peculiar in each camp or department;
• The system of having one collective bargaining unit in each camp has operated satisfactorily in the past. (Benguet Consolidated v. Bobok Lumberjack Association, G.R. No. L-11029, 1958)

Prior Collective Bargaining History

The existence of a prior collective bargaining history is neither decisive nor conclusive in the determination of what constitutes an appropriate bargaining unit. (National Association of Free Trade Unions v. Mainit Lumber Development Company Workers Union, G.R. No. 79526, 1990)

Summary: Signification of Determining the Bargaining Unit

• In a Certification Election, eligible employees in the bargaining unit vote, whether or not they belong to a union (Labor Code, Arts. 268 [256] and 269 [257], as applicable);
• In a CBA Ratification, the voters are the whole bargaining unit, and not just the union members (Labor Code, Art 237); and
• In Strike Voting, the voters are the members of the union, not the whole bargaining unit. (Labor Code, Art. 278[f])