G.R. No. 202131 - ABS-CBN IJM WORKERS UNION, VS. ABS-CBN CORPORATION.D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

WHEREFORE , the petition for certification election filed by ABS-CBN IJM Workers [union] is DENIED for lack of employer-employee relationship between the bargaining unit sought to be represented and ABS-CBN. SO ORDERED . [22] (Emphasis in the original) The Mediator-Arbiter reasoned that the DOLE is bound to respect the Commission's determination of the status of AIWU members in Payonan and Jalog , even if these cases were pending appeal before the Court of Appeals. In any case, it agreed with the Commission that the jobs performed by IJM workers in Payonan and Jalog were not exactly necessary and indispensable to the primary business of ABS-CBN. [23] Aggrieved, AIWU filed a Notice of Appeal and Memorandum of Appeal [24] with the DOLE Secretary, which prayed for the reversal of the Order of the Mediator-Arbiter. It argued that its members are tasked with functions and activities that are not only desirable, but also necessary to the principal and usual business of ABS-CBN. In fact, numerous documents would show that the conditions of IJM workers' employment satisfied the four-fold test. Moreover, the so-called "talents" and similarly-situated employees have already been declared by this Court to be regular employees in ABS-CBN v. Nazareno , [25] and ABS-CBN v. Marquez . [26] As such, the Commission issued a ruling in Herrera v. ABS-CBN [27] which deemed audio personnel to be regular employees of the company. [28] Thereafter, ABS-CBN filed the Opposition to Appeal [29] dated May 7, 2010. It countered that the circumstances obtaining in the Nazareno and Marquez cases occurred before the IJM System was implemented. Thus, this Court's pronouncements therein were inapplicable to AIWU members. [30] On August 13, 2010, DOLE Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz rendered a Decision, [31] the dispositive portion of which reads: WHEREFORE , the appeal filed by ABS-CBN IJM Workers Union is GRANTED . The Order dated 14 April 2010 of DOLE-NCR Mediator-Arbiter Catherine Legardos-Parado is hereby REVERSED and SET ASIDE . Accordingly, let the entire records of the case be remanded to DOLE-NCR for the conduct of a certification election among the ABS-CBN IJM Workers, with the following choices: 1. ABS-CBN IJM Workers Union; and 2. No Union. ABS-CBN and/or the union 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 this Decision. SO DECIDED . [32] In the foregoing Decision, the DOLE Secretary found the controlling jurisprudence to be the Nazareno case, holding that IJM workers are similarly situated to the production assistants therein. It likewise found the evidence to have shown badges of an employer-employee relationship between the IJM workers and ABS-CBN. In all, it ruled that the four elements of employment apply to the parties. [