a. Mandatory Provisions

Matters considered as mandatory subjects of bargaining

• Grievance Machinery and Voluntary Arbitration (Labor Code, Art. 273 [260])
• Union Security Arrangements
• Economic / Working Conditions
• Wages and other types of compensation; including merit increases;
• Working hours and working days, including work shifts;
• Vacations and holidays;
• Bonuses;
• Pensions and retirement plans;
• Seniority;
• Transfer;
• Lay-offs;
• Employee workloads;
• Work rules and regulations;
• Rent of company houses;
• Family planning;
• Rates of pay;
• Mutual observance duties; and
• Provision against Drug Use in Workplace

Where the subject of the dispute is a mandatory bargaining subject, either party may bargain to an impasse as long as he bargains in good faith.

Where the subject is non-mandatory, a party may not insist on bargaining to the point of impasse. His insistence may be construed as evasion of the duty to bargain.