Nikita Lourdes Ramos' Reaction to Outcomes of Collective Bargaining in the Philippine Manufacturing Industry

The study was about Collective Bargaining Agreements among different types of Corporations. Collective bargaining is a negotiation between an employer/s and employee/s for determining work conditions and terms of employment, regulating relationships between employers and workers and regulating relations between employers or their organizations and a worker’s organization. It involves the presentation of proposals and counter proposals, demands and counter demands wherein each party tries to obtain the terms and conditions that are most favorable to it. (Tomboc, 2006). In this study, the author wanted to know if the following factors: union affiliation, sub-industry classification, ownership, company size and location influences the outcome of collective bargaining agreements. In the end, the study found out that the company size significantly influences the outcome of CBA, independent unions in the study negotiated more salary and wage provisions than federated unions and privately owned companies approved more post-employment benefits than publicly owned companies. The study also found out those companies in textile, wearing apparel and leather industry contained the most number of stipulations when it comes to benefits, followed by companies engaged in manufacturing fabricated metal products, machinery and equipment and lastly by companies in chemicals, petroleum, coal, rubber and plastic industry.

In this study, I found more about the legal minimum requirements that the government implements when it comes to the benefits to be received by workers. Most companies only satisfy the legal minimum requirement, all of which belongs to large companies but there are some that don’t follow the minimum requirement. Maybe it’s because they want to minimize cost and that they cannot afford to give them to their employees even if they want to. Whatever their reason is, it’s still not fair that they set the benefits to be received by their employees below the minimum requirement especially if these workers are working hard and giving their best for the company in order to sustain their needs or their family’s needs. But then, I also cannot blame the companies who really cannot afford to give them since life now is really hard. It seems that our country’s economy is not in good shape. Businesses here that have potential cannot move forward for there are many things limiting their growth that’s why they’re not able to obtain the profit that they would like to achieve.

Another finding of the study is that collective bargaining agreements by some companies substitute other benefits such as outings, uniform and other not so important health and safety benefits because they are cheaper. There’s nothing wrong with this but wouldn’t it better if they issue benefits which would be very useful to their employees such as overtime pay, hospitalization, annual check-ups, leaves and retirement so that they can ensure that their employees will be at their best and therefore can work really well? After all, their workers are their resource of energy. They’re the ones who do the real processing. Without them, the company would not be able to operate and function well.

If the company issues benefits on health, their workers would be healthy. There would be no need for long sick leaves because they will be sure of their workers’ health. If the environment is clean and neat, productivity will increase. The workers would always be in good shape while working so the company would be more productive. They would be able to work well since all of them would be healthy. If they’re always healthy, they won’t get sick, will not incur in delay in their work, and there would be no need for sick leaves.

A fair overtime pay will enervate workers to do better, to work harder. A high overtime pay will attract more employees to come to work and work harder. This would lead to higher productivity because there would be longer hours of work, but without complaints from the workers since they voluntarily did it. They will be encouraged to work for longer hours, and give their best in their work because of the additional pay. I, myself, would be willing to work overtime if the pay is fair enough. It would make me more competitive and would make me persevere more. The employees would be challenged to think and give their best for the company because they know their pay is very fair.

Post employment benefits would make the workers loyal to the company since they know that the company will help them when they can no longer work. After all, these benefits are given to employees who are very loyal to the company. If post-employment benefits will be given a fair price, more workers would be loyal to the company and would not leave because they know that once they’re not very useful anymore, the company would not let them live a very miserable life. Having loyal workers is a good sign because you know that these people would not just leave the company when something bad happens, like incurring losses for consecutive years. You know that you can trust and count on them for support because they love the company. When you fall, they’ll be the ones who’ll reach for your hand and help you climb up. Letting them go is not a good act that’s why it’s very important to keep your workers, especially if they’re the ones who have stayed in the company for years, even through bad times. They’re treasures to be preserved. Good workers are very important to a company and keeping them should be one of the company’s priorities. They should not be treated as slaves or people whom you can just throw somewhere after you have used them, because they’re people too, people who can think and persevere. You never know but maybe someday, they would be able to contribute a lot in the company. The success of your business greatly depends on them, on their skills, efforts, wisdom, advice, and attitudes. You cannot run a company on your own, you cannot just decide for your own good alone. You have to decide on what you think is fair and right. You have to think of others, too.

It is understandable that smaller companies cannot afford to give all the benefits that bigger companies do since it’s out of their budget. But I just wish that the large companies would at least follow the legal minimum requirement for benefits. I just wish that they would not be selfish fools who adore money and use it just to satisfy their own happiness even if they’re already affecting the poor. Just because they were given the education that all of us really need doesn’t mean they can dominate the poor and outsmart them. That’s why, it’s important to have someone with you who is educated enough when you’re entering into agreements. You have to be smart now; you have to be prepared for everything so others cannot oppress or trick you. In a CBA, there must be smart people in both sides so that no one would outsmart the other. If the right agreements are made, I’m sure that a company would exist for a long time and would continue operating in a very productive and profitable way. A fair workplace is very ideal. It’s hard to achieve and maintain it but we must always remember that there’s always a solution to everything. All it takes is extensive planning, organizing and especially thinking – thinking of the solution that you know would be fair to both the company and the workers.