G.R. No. 200499 - SAN FERNANDO COCA-COLA RANK-AND-FILE UNION (SACORU), REPRESENTED BY ITS PRESIDENT, ALFREDO R. MARAÑON, VS. COCA-COLA BOTTLERS PHILIPPINES, INC. (CCBPI).DECISION - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

WHEREFORE, premises considered, and pursuant to Article 263 (g) of the Labor Code of the Philippines, as amended, this Office hereby CERTIFIES the labor dispute at COCA-COLA BOTTLERS PHILIPPINES, INC. to the National Labor Relations Commission for compulsory arbitration. Accordingly, any intended strike or lockout or any concerted action is automatically enjoined. If one has already taken place, all striking and locked out employees shall, within twenty-four (24) hours from receipt of this Order, immediately return to work and the employer shall immediately resume operations and re-admit all workers under the same terms and conditions prevailing before the strike. The parties are likewise enjoined from committing any act that may further exacerbate the situation." Meanwhile, pending hearing of the certified case, SACORU filed a motion for execution of the dispositive portion of the certification order praying that the dismissal of the union members not be pushed through because it would violate the order of the DOLE Secretary not to commit any act that would exacerbate the situation. On August 26, 2009, however, the resolution of the motion for execution was ordered deferred and suspended; instead, the issue was treated as an item to be resolved jointly with the main labor dispute. CCBPI, for its part, argued that the new business scheme is basically a management prerogative designed to improve the system of selling and distributing products in order to reach more consumers at a lesser cost with fewer manpower complement, but resulting in greater returns to investment. CCBPI also contended that there was a need to improve its distribution system if it wanted to remain viable and competitive in the business; that after a careful review and study of the existing system of selling and distributing its products, it decided that the existing CRS and MB systems be ceded out to the MEPs or better known as " Dealership System " because the enhanced MEPs is a cost-effective and simplified scheme of distribution and selling company products; that CCBPI, through the simplied system, would derive benefits such as: (a) lower cost to serve; (b) fewer assets to manage; (c) zero capital infusion. SACORU maintained that the termination of the 27 union members is a circumvention of the CBA against the contracting out of regular job positions, and that the theory of redundancy as a ground for termination is belied by the fact that the job positions are contracted out to a " third party provider "; that the termination will seriously affect the union membership because out of 250 members, only 120 members will be left upon plan implementation; that there is no redundancy because the sales department still exists except that job positions will be contracted out to a sales contractor using company equipment for the purpose of minimizing labor costs because contractual employees do not enjoy CBA benefits; that the contractualization program of the company is illegal be