Administrative Code of 1987/Book IV/Title VII/Chapter 1

by Corazon Aquino

Layout 2

Chapter 1—General Provisions

Section 1. Declaration of Policy.—(1) The State shall afford full protection to labor and promote full employment and equality of employment opportunities for all.

It shall guarantee the rights of all workers to self-organization, collective bargaining negotiations, and peaceful concerted activities, including the right to strike in accordance with law. They shall be entitled to security of tenure, humane conditions of work, and a living wage. They shall also participate in policy and decision-making processes affecting their rights and benefits as may be provided by law.

(2) The State shall promote the principle of shared responsibility between workers and employers and the preferential use of voluntary modes in settling disputes, including conciliation, and shall enforce their mutual compliance therewith to foster industrial peace.

(3) The State shall regulate the relations between workers and employers, recognizing the right of labor to its just share in the fruits of production and the right of enterprises to reasonable returns on investments, and to expansion and growth.

Sec. 2. Mandate.—The Department shall be the primary policy-making, programming, coordinating and administrative entity of the Executive Branch of the government in the field of labor and employment. It shall assume primary responsibility for:

(1) The promotion of gainful employment opportunities and the optimization of the development and utilization of the country’s manpower resources;

(2) The advancement of workers’ welfare by providing for just and humane working conditions and terms of employment;

(3) The maintenance of industrial peace by promoting harmonious, equitable, and stable employment relations that assure equal protection for the rights of all concerned parties.

Sec. 3. Powers and Functions.—The Department of Labor and Employment shall:

(1) Enforce social and labor legislation to protect the working class and regulate the relations between the worker and his employer;

(2) Formulate and recommend policies, plans and programs for manpower development, training, allocation, and utilization;

(3) Recommend legislation to enhance the material, social and intellectual improvement of the nation’s labor force;

(4) Protect and promote the interest of every citizen desiring to work locally or overseas by securing for him the most equitable terms and conditions of employment, and by providing social and welfare services;

(5) Regulate the employment of aliens, including the enforcement of a registration or work permit system for such aliens, as provided for by law;

(6) Formulate general guidelines concerning wage and income policy;

(7) Recommend necessary adjustments in wage structures with a view to developing a wage system that is consistent with national economic and social development plans;

(8) Provide for safe, decent, humane and improved working conditions and environment for all workers, particularly women and young workers;

(9) Maintain a harmonious, equitable and stable labor relations system that is supportive of the national economic policies and programs;

(10) Uphold the right of workers and employers to organize and promote free collective bargaining as the foundation of the labor relations system;

(11) Provide and ensure the fair and expeditious settlement and disposition of labor and industrial disputes through collective bargaining, grievance machinery, conciliation, mediation, voluntary arbitration, compulsory arbitration as may be provided by law, and other modes that may be voluntarily agreed upon by the parties concerned; and

(12) Perform such other functions as may be provided by law.

Sec. 4. Organizational Structure.—The Department shall consist of the Office of the Secretary, and Undersecretaries and Assistant Secretaries, the Services and Staff Bureaus, and the Regional Offices.