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    103-SSS Employees Association vs. Court of Appeals (G.R. No. 85279, July 28, 1989) - Atienza

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    Adrian Gabriel S. Atienza
    The Supreme Court held that SSS employees do not have the right to strike. While the 1987 Constitution recognizes the right of all workers to strike, it does not expressly extend this right to government employees. The Constitutional Commission intended to limit the right of government employees to organize unions only, without including the right to strike. As SSS employees are considered government employees, and there is no law allowing government employees to strike, the strike by SSS employees was deemed illegal and an injunction could be issued to restrain it.

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    103-SSS Employees Association vs. Court of Appeals (G.R. No. 85279, July 28, 1989) - Atienza

    Uploaded by

    Adrian Gabriel S. Atienza
    123 views2 pages
    The Supreme Court held that SSS employees do not have the right to strike. While the 1987 Constitution recognizes the right of all workers to strike, it does not expressly extend this right to government employees. The Constitutional Commission intended to limit the right of government employees to organize unions only, without including the right to strike. As SSS employees are considered government employees, and there is no law allowing government employees to strike, the strike by SSS employees was deemed illegal and an injunction could be issued to restrain it.

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    103-SSS Employees Association vs. Court of Appeals [G.R. No. 85279, July 28, 1989]-Atienza

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    The Supreme Court held that SSS employees do not have the right to strike. While the 1987 Constitution recognizes the right of all workers to strike, it does not expressly extend this right to government employees. The Constitutional Commission intended to limit the right of government employees to organize unions only, without including the right to strike. As SSS employees are considered government employees, and there is no law allowing government employees to strike, the strike by SSS employees was deemed illegal and an injunction could be issued to restrain it.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    123 views2 pages

    103-SSS Employees Association vs. Court of Appeals (G.R. No. 85279, July 28, 1989) - Atienza

    Uploaded by

    Adrian Gabriel S. Atienza
    The Supreme Court held that SSS employees do not have the right to strike. While the 1987 Constitution recognizes the right of all workers to strike, it does not expressly extend this right to government employees. The Constitutional Commission intended to limit the right of government employees to organize unions only, without including the right to strike. As SSS employees are considered government employees, and there is no law allowing government employees to strike, the strike by SSS employees was deemed illegal and an injunction could be issued to restrain it.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 2

    SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM EMPLOYEES ASSOCIATION (SSSEA) vs

    THE COURT OF APPEALS G.R. No. 85279 July 28, 1989


    FACTS: Primarily, the issue raised in this petition is whether or not the Regional Trial Court can
    enjoin the Social Security System Employees Association (SSSEA) from striking and order the
    striking employees to return to work. Collaterally, it is whether or not employees of the Social
    Security System (SSS) have the right to strike.
    SSS filed with the Regional Trial Court of Quezon City a complaint for damages with a
    prayer for a writ of preliminary injunction against petitioners, alleging that officers and members
    of SSSEA staged an illegal strike and barricaded the entrances to the SSS Building, preventing
    non-striking employees from reporting for work and SSS members from transacting business
    with the SSS; that the strike was reported to the Public Sector Labor – Management Council,
    which ordered the strikers to return to work; that the strikers refused to return to work; and that
    the SSS suffered damages as a result of the strike. The complaint prayed that a writ of
    preliminary injunction be issued to enjoin the strike and that the strikers be ordered to return to
    work; that the defendants (petitioners herein) be ordered to pay damages; and that the strike be
    declared illegal.
    It appears that the SSSEA went on strike after the SSS failed to act on the union’s
    demands, which included: implementation of the provisions of the old SSS-SSSEA collective
    bargaining agreement (CBA) on check-off of union dues; payment of accrued overtime pay,
    night differential pay and holiday pay; conversion of temporary or contractual employees with
    six (6) months or more of service into regular and permanent employees and their entitlement to
    the same salaries, allowances and benefits given to other regular employees of the SSS; and
    payment of the children’s allowance of P30.00, and after the SSS deducted certain amounts from
    the salaries of the employees and allegedly committed acts of discrimination and unfair labor
    practices.
    In dismissing the petition for certiorari and prohibition with preliminary injunction filed
    by petitioners, the Court of Appeals held that since the employees of the SSS, are government
    employees, they are not allowed to strike, and may be enjoined by the Regional Trial Court,
    which had jurisdiction over the SSS’ complaint for damages, from continuing with their strike.

    ISSUE: w/n SSS employees have the right to strike

    HELD: No. The 1987 Constitution provides that the State “shall guarantee the rights of all
    workers to self-organization, collective bargaining and negotiations, and peaceful concerted
    activities, including the right to strike in accordance with law” [Art. XIII, Sec. 31].
    By itself, this provision would seem to recognize the right of all workers and employees,
    including those in the public sector, to strike. But the Constitution itself fails to expressly
    confirm this impression, for it provides, after defining the scope of the civil service as “all
    branches, subdivisions, instrumentalities, and agencies of the Government, including
    government-owned or controlled corporations with original charters,” that “[t]he right to self-
    organization shall not be denied to government employees” [Art. IX(B), Sec. 2(l) and (50)].
    Parenthetically, the Bill of Rights also provides that “[tlhe right of the people, including
    those employed in the public and private sectors, to form unions, associations, or societies
    for purposes not contrary to law shall not abridged” [Art. III, Sec. 8]. Thus, while there is no
    question that the Constitution recognizes the right of government employees to organize, it is
    silent as to whether such recognition also includes the right to strike.
    Resort to the intent of the framers of the organic law becomes helpful in understanding
    the meaning of these provisions. A reading of the proceedings of the Constitutional Commission
    that drafted the 1987 Constitution would show that in recognizing the right of government
    employees to organize, the commissioners intended to limit the right to the formation of unions
    or associations only, without including the right to strike.
    At present, in the absence of any legislation allowing government employees to strike,
    recognizing their right to do so, or regulating the exercise of the right, they are prohibited from
    striking, by express provision of Memorandum Circular No. 6 and as implied in E.O. No. 180.
    The SSS is a GOCC with an original charter, having been created under R.A. No. 1161,
    its employees are part of the civil service and are covered by the Civil Service Commission’s
    memorandum prohibiting strikes. This being the case, the strike staged by the employees of the
    SSS was illegal. The strike staged by the employees of the SSS belonging to petitioner union
    being prohibited by law, an injunction may be issued to restrain it.

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