The Supreme Court (SC) has turned down an appeal filed by the union of a food manufacturer questioning the decision of the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) and the Court of Appeals (CA) on the labor case it initiated for terminated workers.
In a resolution uploaded online last March 29, the SC first division turned down the petition filed by workers of General Milling Corporation (GMC) represented by its union, the Ilaw at Buklod ng Manggagawa sa GMC (IBM sa GMC), in connection with the decision of the company in 2012 to terminate 33 employees and transfer 18 to a different department.
The SC ruling upheld the 2015 ruling of the Court of Appeals (CA) on the matter finding that GMC validly terminated the employment of the affected employees on the basis of a valid redundancy program.
The termination and movement of personnel was a consequence of the implementation of the company’s business strategy part of which was to outsource its bagging and loading departments to an independent contractor, PertServe, Inc.
The union filed a notice of strike on the ground of unfair labor practice and union-busting before the NCMB which later resolved the controversy through voluntary arbitration. The Court of Appeals said the voluntary arbitrator correctly ruled when it said GMC’s streamlining scheme “was a valid labor-saving device supported by jurisprudence”.
“All told, the Court finds that respondent (GMC) executed a valid redundancy program, having complied with the requisites for its validity. Indeed, contracting out of services is a valid exercise of business judgment or management prerogative,” the SC said adding that without evidence to prove malicious or arbitrary acts the SC shall refrain from interfering with a “business prerogative,”
Source: Philippines News Agency
