Airline Pilots Association

V
Court of Industrial Relations
Gonzales, Eleanor Mae N.
BSBA HRDM 4A
 CASE 1
ALPAP and PAL were locked in a labor dispute with
ALPAP members staging a strike
CIR issued a return-to-work order several times before
the strikers halted
Two pilots, one of them being Felix Gaston, refused to
take the flights assigned to him which prompted PAL to
FACTS terminate his services
A majority of ALPAP members adopted a resolution
amending its constitution and by-laws allowing any
active member who shall be forced to retire or forced to
resign or otherwise terminated for union activities to
have the option to either continue to be and remain as
an active member in good standing or to resign in
writing
 PAL filed an urgent ex parte to enjoin ALPAP members
from proceeding with their en masse
resignation/retirement
Despite a no-work-stoppage order from CIR, a
substantial majority (180) of ALPAP members filed
letters or retirement/resignation with PAL

PAL withheld from them any benefit or privileged them

may have been entitled by reason of employment
because of their defiance of the CIR order
Those who left PAL elected Gaston as president; those
who remained with PAL (45 in all) elected Ben Hur
Gomez
 CASE 2 -
The Gomez faction filed a certification petition with the
CIR praying that it be declared as the sole and
exclusive collective bargaining representative of all
pilots then employed by PAL and were then on active
flight and/or operational assignments

This was opposed by the Gaston group on the ground

that the CIR had no jurisdiction over the subject matter
because a certification proceeding in the CIR is not the
proper forum for the adjudication as to who is the lawful
president of a legitimate labor organization (Gaston did
not want Gomez faction to take over the corporate name
and funds of ALPAP)
 CIR rendered a decision certifying ALPAP as the sole
and exclusive bargaining representative of the
abovementioned pilots with Gomez as president
CIR held that the amendment to the by-laws was illegal
because it was not adopted in accordance with the
procedure prescribed and because non-employees
cannot be included as ALPAP members
 (1) Whether or not non-employees can represent and
be a member of a union of employees of a certain
employer

Issues (2) Who between Gomez and Gaston is the true

president of ALPAP
 1. Yes. Procedurally, 221 out of 270 members voted in
favor of the member during a general membership
meeting, all in compliance with ALPAP by-laws.
Substantively, the restrictive interpretation made by CIR
is erroneous.
RULING Sec. 2(e) of RA 875 defines a labor organization as any
union any union or association of employees which
exists, in whole or in part, for the purpose of collective
bargaining or of dealing with employers concerning
terms and conditions of employment."
 The absence of the condition which the CIR would
attach to the statutory concept of a labor organization,
as being limited to the employees of a particular
employer is quite evident from the law.
The emphasis of the Industrial Peace Act is clearly on
the purposes for which a union or association of
employees is established rather than that membership
therein should be limited only to the employees of a
particular employer.
Even under Section 2(h) "representative" is defined as
including "a legitimate labor organization or any officer
or agent of such organization, whether or not employed
by the employer or employee whom he represents." It
cannot be overemphasized likewise that a labor dispute
can exist "regardless of whether the disputants stand in
the proximate relation of employer and employee."
 Moreover, nothing in the constitution and by-laws of
ALPAP restricts membership therein to PAL pilots alone.
Although there has never been an instance where a
non-PAL pilot became a member of ALPAP, the
complete lack of any such precondition for ALPAP
membership cannot but be interpreted as an
unmistakable authority for the association to accept
pilots into its fold though they may not be under PAL's
employ.
Therefore, CIRs certification of the Gomez faction was
made with GAD.
 As between Gomez and Gaston, the court held that
Gomezs election cannot be valid and binding.
Gomez was elected at a meeting of only 45 ALPAP
members called just one day after the election of
RULING Gaston as President of ALPAP who received a majority
of 180 votes out of a total membership of 270.
 Section 2(e) of R.A. 875 defines Labor Organization as
any union or association of employees which exist, in
whole or in part, for the purpose of the collective
bargaining or dealing with employers concerning
terms and conditions of employment.
APPLICABLE Section 2(h) of R.A 875 "representative" is define as
PROVISION including "a legitimate labor organization or any officer
or agent of such organization, whether or not employed
by the employer or employeewhom he represents.