FIRST DIVISION
November 21, 2016
G.R. No. 193816
ERSON ANG LEE DOING BUSINESS as "SUPER LAMINATION SERVICES," Petitioner
vs.
SAMAHANG MANGGAGAWA NG SUPER LAMINATION (SMSLS-NAFLU-KMU), Respondent
D E C I S I O N
SERENO, CJ.:
This is a Petition for Review on Certiorari under Rule 45 of the Rules of Court on the Decision1 and Resolution2 of the Court of Appeals (CA) affirming the assailed Decision3 of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). DOLE allowed the conduct of certification election among the rank-and-file employees of Super Lamination Services (Super Lamination), Express Lamination Services, Inc. (Express Lamination), and Express Coat Enterprises, Inc. (Express Coat).
THE ANTECEDENT FACTS
Petitioner Erson Ang Lee (petitioner), through Super Lamination, is a duly registered entity principally engaged in the business of providing lamination services to the general public. Respondent Samahan ng mga Manggagawa ng Super Lamination Services (Union A) is a legitimate labor organization, which is also a local chapter affiliate of the National Federation of Labor Unions - Kilusang Mayo Uno.4 It appears that Super Lamination is a sole proprietorship under petitioner's name,5 while Express Lamination and Express Coat are duly incorporated entities separately registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).6
On 7 March 2008, Union A filed a Petition for Certification Election7 to represent all the rank-and-file employees of Super Lamination.8
Notably, on the same date, Express Lamination Workers' Union (Union B) also filed a Petition for Certification Election to represent all the rank-and-file employees of Express Lamination.9
Also on the same date, the Samahan ng mga Manggagawa ng Express Coat Enterprises, Inc. (Union C) filed a Petition for Certification Election to represent the rank-and-file employees of Express Coat.10
Super Lamination, Express Lamination, and Express Coat, all represented by one counsel, separately claimed in their Comments and Motions to Dismiss that the petitions must be dismissed on the same ground - lack of employer-employee relationship between these establishments and the bargaining units that Unions A, B, and C seek to represent as well as these unions' respective members.11 Super Lamination, in its Motion, posited that a majority of the persons who were enumerated in the list of members and officers of Union A were not its employees, but were employed by either Express Lamination or Express Coat.12 Interestingly, both Express Lamination and Express Coat, in turn, maintained the same argument - that a majority of those who had assented to the Petition for Certification Election were not employees of either company, but of one of the two other companies involved.13
All three Petitions for Certification Election of the Unions were denied. On 21 May 2008, an Order was issued by DOLE National Capital Region (NCR) Med-Arbiter Michael Angelo Parado denying the respective petitions of Unions B and C on the ground that there was no existing employer-employee relationship between the members of the unions and the companies concerned. On 23 May 2008, DOLE NCR Med-Arbiter Alma Magdaraog-Alba also denied the petition of respondent Union A on the same ground.14
The three unions filed their respective appeals before the Office of the DOLE Secretary, which consolidated the appeal because the involved companies alternately referred to one another as the employer of the members of the bargaining units sought to be represented.15 The unions argued that their petitions should have been allowed considering that the companies involved were unorganized, and that the employers had no concomitant right to oppose the petitions. They also claimed that while the questioned employees might have been assigned to perform work at the other companies, they were all under one management's direct control and supervision.16
DOLE, through Undersecretary Romeo C. Lagman, rendered the assailed Decision, the dispositive portion of which reads as follows:
, premises considered, the appeals filed by Express Lamination Workers Union (ELWU-NAFLU-KMU), Samahang Manggagawa ng Express Coat Enterprises, Inc. (SMEC-NAFLU-KMU) and Samahang Manggagawa ng Super Lamination Services (SMSLS-NAFLU-KMU) are hereby GRANTED and the Orders dated 21 May 2008 of DOLE-NCR Mediator-Arbiter Michael Angelo T. Parado are hereby REVERSED and SET ASIDE. The Order dated 23 May 2008 of DOLE NCR Mediator-Arbiter Alma E. Magdaraog-Alba is likewise REVERSED and SET ASIDE.WHEREFORE
Accordingly, let the entire records of this be remanded to the regional office of origin for the immediate conduct of certification election among the rank-and-file employees of Express Lamination Services, Inc., Super Lamination Services and Express Coat Enterprises Inc., after the conduct of pre-election conference/s, with the following as choices;
1. Express Lamination Workers Union-NAFLU-KMU;
2. Samahan ng mga Manggagawa ng Super Lamination Services-NAFLU-KMU;
3. Samahang ng mga Manggagawa ng Express Coat Enterprises, Inc.-NAFLU-KMU; and
4. "No Union."
The employer/s and/or contending union(s) are hereby directed to submit to the Regional Office of origin, within ten (10) days from receipt of this Decision, a certified list of employees in the bargaining unit or the payrolls covering the members of the bargaining unit for the last three (3) months prior to the issuance of the Decision.
SO DECIDED.17 (Emphases in the original)