Labor Code of the Philippines

In response to the industrial disputes and labor conflicts, former president Ferdinand Marcos consolidated labor laws in the Philippines on Labor day, May 1, 1974, through the creation of presidential decree No. 442 or the “Labor Code of the Philippines”. It consisted of revisions of several major provisions from the 1953 Industrial Peace Act, which was modeled after American policies, and other existing social and labor legislations, along with the addition of a labor export program. The decree moved away from the original focus of labor relations as a “quest for industrial peace”, redefining labor’s role in economic development per the promised “new society”. There was little resistance to unifying labor movements and regulating bargaining due to the polarization of labor movements prior to martial law, where there was a lack of united political movements and infrequent collective bargaining among unions.

The labor code was decreed after restraining militant labor acts. The National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) was created to resolve these labor disputes. Through compulsory arbitration under this commission, trade unionism and collective bargaining were encouraged under the labor code. The code regarded unions as “agents of democracy, social justice, and development”. It also had the goal of dealing with communist movements within trade unions. To unify all labor unions to minimize inter-union rivalry, the government formed the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) in 1975 which strengthened tripartism. However, the trade unity under TUCP eventually broke down as various federations seceded to form their own labor centers, further polarizing the labor movement.