FIRST DIVISION
[G.R. No. 46739. September 23, 1939. ]
PAMPANGA BUS COMPANY, INC., Petitioner, v. PAMBUSCO EMPLOYEES UNION, INC., Respondent.
L. D. Lockwood for Petitioner.
Jose Alejandrino for Respondent.
SYLLABUS
1. EMPLOYER AND EMPLOYEE; FREEDOM OF CONTRACT; DUE PROCESS OF LAW; COURT OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS. — The Court of Industrial Relations issued an order directing the petitioner Pampanga Bus Company, Inc., to recruit from the respondent Pambusco Employees’ Union, Inc., new employees or laborers it may need to replace members of the union who may be dismissed from the service of the company, with the proviso that, if the union fails to provide employees possessing the necessary qualifications, the company may employ any other persons it may desire. This order, in substance and in effect, compels the company, against its will, to employ preferentially, in its service, the members of the union. Held: That the court has no authority to issue such compulsory order. The general right to make a contract in relation to one’s business is an essential part of the liberty of the citizens protected by the due process clause of the Constitution. The right of a laborer to sell his labor to such person as he may choose is, in its essence, the same as the right of an employer to purchase labor from any person whom it chooses. The employer and the employee have thus an equality of right guaranteed by the Constitution. "If the employer can compel the employer to work against the latter’s will, this is servitude. It the employee can compel the employer to give him work against the employees will, this is oppression." (Mills v. United States Printing Co., 99 App. Div., 605; 91 N. Y. S., 185, 189-192.)
2. ID.; ID.; ID.; COLLECTIVE BARGAINING. — Section 2 of Commonwealth Act No. 213 confers upon labor organizations the right "to collective bargaining with employers for the purpose of seeking better working and living conditions, fair wage, and shorter working hours for laborers, and, in general, to promote the material, social and moral well-being of their member." The term "collective bargaining" denotes, in common usage as well as in legal terminology, negotiations looking toward o collective agreement. This provision in granting to labor unions merely the right of collective bargaining, impliedly recognizes the employer’s liberty to enter or not into collective agreements with them. Indeed, we know of no provision of the law compelling such agreements. Such a fundamental curtailment of freedom, if ever intended by law upon grounds of public policy, should be effected in a manner that is beyond all possibility of doubt. The supreme mandates of the Constitution should not be loosely brushed aside.
3. ID.; ID.; POLICE POWER. — The freedom of contract guaranteed by the Constitution may be limited by law through a proper exercise of the paramount police power. Thus, in order to promote industrial peace, certain limitations to the employer’s right to select his employees or to discharge them are provided in action 21 of Commonwealth Act No. 103 and section 6 of Commonwealth Act No. 213. These two provisions were, however, patterned after the Wagner Act, and the Supreme Court of the United States, in the case of National Labor Relations Board v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation (301 U. S., 1; 81 Law. ed., 893, 916), said: "The Act (Wagner Act) does not compel agreements between employers and employees. It does not compel any agreement whatever. It does not prevent employer ’from refusing to make a collective contract and hiring individuals on whatever terms’ the employer ’may by unilateral action determine.’ The Act expressly provides in sec. 9 (a) that any individual employee or a group of employees shall have the right at any time to present grievances to their employer. The theory of the Act is that free opportunity for negotiation with accredited representatives of employees is likely to promote industrial peace and may bring about the adjustments and agreements which the Act in itself does not attempt to compel . . . The Act does not interfere with the normal exercise of the right of the employer to select its employees or to discharge them. The employer may not, under cover of that right, intimidate or coerce its employees with respect to their self-organization and representation, and, on the other hand, the board is not entitled to make its authority a pretext for interference with the right of did charge when that right is exercised for other reasons than such intimidation and coercion."
2. ID.; ID.; ID.; COLLECTIVE BARGAINING. — Section 2 of Commonwealth Act No. 213 confers upon labor organizations the right "to collective bargaining with employers for the purpose of seeking better working and living conditions, fair wage, and shorter working hours for laborers, and, in general, to promote the material, social and moral well-being of their member." The term "collective bargaining" denotes, in common usage as well as in legal terminology, negotiations looking toward o collective agreement. This provision in granting to labor unions merely the right of collective bargaining, impliedly recognizes the employer’s liberty to enter or not into collective agreements with them. Indeed, we know of no provision of the law compelling such agreements. Such a fundamental curtailment of freedom, if ever intended by law upon grounds of public policy, should be effected in a manner that is beyond all possibility of doubt. The supreme mandates of the Constitution should not be loosely brushed aside.
3. ID.; ID.; POLICE POWER. — The freedom of contract guaranteed by the Constitution may be limited by law through a proper exercise of the paramount police power. Thus, in order to promote industrial peace, certain limitations to the employer’s right to select his employees or to discharge them are provided in action 21 of Commonwealth Act No. 103 and section 6 of Commonwealth Act No. 213. These two provisions were, however, patterned after the Wagner Act, and the Supreme Court of the United States, in the case of National Labor Relations Board v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation (301 U. S., 1; 81 Law. ed., 893, 916), said: "The Act (Wagner Act) does not compel agreements between employers and employees. It does not compel any agreement whatever. It does not prevent employer ’from refusing to make a collective contract and hiring individuals on whatever terms’ the employer ’may by unilateral action determine.’ The Act expressly provides in sec. 9 (a) that any individual employee or a group of employees shall have the right at any time to present grievances to their employer. The theory of the Act is that free opportunity for negotiation with accredited representatives of employees is likely to promote industrial peace and may bring about the adjustments and agreements which the Act in itself does not attempt to compel . . . The Act does not interfere with the normal exercise of the right of the employer to select its employees or to discharge them. The employer may not, under cover of that right, intimidate or coerce its employees with respect to their self-organization and representation, and, on the other hand, the board is not entitled to make its authority a pretext for interference with the right of did charge when that right is exercised for other reasons than such intimidation and coercion."
D E C I S I O N
MORAN, J.:
On May 31, 1939, the Court of Industrial Relations issued an order, directing the petitioner herein, Pampanga Bus Company, Inc., to recruit from the respondent, Pambusco Employees’ Union, Inc., new employees or laborers it may need to replace members of the union who may be dismissed from the service of the company, with the proviso that, if the union fails to provide employees possessing the necessary qualifications, the company may employ any other persons it may desire. This order, in substance and in effect, compels the company, against its will, to employ preferentially, in its service, the members of the union.
We hold that the court has no authority to issue such compulsory order. The general right to make a contract in relation to one’s business is an essential part of the liberty of the citizens protected by the due process clause of the Constitution. The right of a laborer to sell his labor to such person as he may choose is, in its essence, the same as the right of an employer to purchase labor from any person whom it chooses. The employer and the employee have thus an equality of right guaranteed by the Constitution. "If the employer can compel the employer to work against the latter’s will, this is servitude. If the employer can compel the employer to give him work against the employer’s will, this is oppression." (Mills v. United States Printing Co., 99 App. Div., 605; 91 N. Y. S., 186, 189-192.)
Section 2 of Commonwealth Act No. 213 confers upon labor organizations the right "to collective bargaining with employers for the purpose of seeking better working and living conditions, fair wages, and shorter working hours for laborers, and, in general, to promote the material, social and moral well-being of their members." The term "collective bargaining" denotes, in common usage as well as in legal terminology, negotiations looking toward a collective agreement. This provision in granting to labor Unions merely the right of collective bargaining, impliedly recognizes the employer’s liberty to enter or not into collective agreements with them. Indeed, we know of no provision of the law compelling such agreements. Such a fundamental curtailment of freedom, if ever intended by law upon grounds of public policy, should be elected in a manner that is beyond all possibility of doubt. The supreme mandates of the Constitution should not be loosely brushed aside.
We hold that the court has no authority to issue such compulsory order. The general right to make a contract in relation to one’s business is an essential part of the liberty of the citizens protected by the due process clause of the Constitution. The right of a laborer to sell his labor to such person as he may choose is, in its essence, the same as the right of an employer to purchase labor from any person whom it chooses. The employer and the employee have thus an equality of right guaranteed by the Constitution. "If the employer can compel the employer to work against the latter’s will, this is servitude. If the employer can compel the employer to give him work against the employer’s will, this is oppression." (Mills v. United States Printing Co., 99 App. Div., 605; 91 N. Y. S., 186, 189-192.)
Section 2 of Commonwealth Act No. 213 confers upon labor organizations the right "to collective bargaining with employers for the purpose of seeking better working and living conditions, fair wages, and shorter working hours for laborers, and, in general, to promote the material, social and moral well-being of their members." The term "collective bargaining" denotes, in common usage as well as in legal terminology, negotiations looking toward a collective agreement. This provision in granting to labor Unions merely the right of collective bargaining, impliedly recognizes the employer’s liberty to enter or not into collective agreements with them. Indeed, we know of no provision of the law compelling such agreements. Such a fundamental curtailment of freedom, if ever intended by law upon grounds of public policy, should be elected in a manner that is beyond all possibility of doubt. The supreme mandates of the Constitution should not be loosely brushed aside.
