DOLE orders 1-day processing of union, CBA registrations

The Department of Labor and Employment has directed its regional offices and the Bureau of Labor Relations to process the registration of labor unions and their collective bargaining agreements within a day after its filing.

Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas issued Department Order No. 40-D-05 amending some sections of the implementing rules of the Labor Code purposely to promote industrial peace and respect for workers' rights.

The amended portions are Sections 4 and 5, Rule IV and Section 4, Rule XVII, Book V (Labor Relations) of the Omnibus Rules implementing the country's Labor Code.

The new order mandates DOLE regional offices and the Bureau of Labor Relations to act on applications for registration of CBAs within one day from receipt, either by approving or rejecting these.

If the application documents were not complete, or not verified under oath, the regional office should notify the applicants in writing, within one day, to comply with the lacking requirements within 10 days otherwise such would be denied.

Acting Labor Secretary Manuel Imson, who heads the DOLE's labor relations cluster, said CBAs "make industrial peace real and tangible as these represent the efforts of management and labor to forge better productivity and sustain mutually beneficially relations."

Constructive steps, including CBAs between management and labor, have contributed to the reduction of the number of labor strikes in the country, said Imson.

Imson cited a report of the Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics that showed there are 227 new CBAs registered nationwide, benefiting a total of 40,933 workers. These added to the existing 2,790 CBAs covering 550,000 workers, in the first semester of 2005. - Wenna A. Berondo