EN BANC believes and so holds that there exists an employer- 5.

believes and so holds that there exists an employer- 5. The Company exercises the power of dismissal: ( a) by cutting off
employee relationship between the members of the these allowances, when the agent makes a misrepresentation with
petitioning Union and the Company; that all the regards to coverage or report on daily visits made, or is guilty of
G.R. No. L-14280             May 30, 1960 salesmen working with the Company may constitute a disloyalty in any form or free-lancing for any other company during
distinct and separate appropriate unit for bargaining his tour of duty; (b) by withdrawing the authority to sell in case of
JUAN YSMAEL & COMPANY, INC., petitioner, purposes with the Company; and that the members of such disloyalty or free-lanching, or when an agent fails to make any
vs. the petitioning Union constitute the majority of the reasonably good sale within a reasonable period; and (c) by forcing
THE COURT OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS, THE HONORABLE salesmen working for the Company. The certification him to resign for any compelling reason, as the company has done
JOSE S. BAUTISTA, ARSENIO I. MARTINEZ, BALTAZAR M. of the petitioning Union, therefore, as the sole and in the case of commission agents Jose S. Esquivias, Melecio Data
VILLANUEVA, and EMILIANO C. TABIGNE, JUDGES OF THE exclusive bargaining representative of all the and Felicidad Sinope.
COURT OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS, and YSMAEL STEEL salesmen working with the Company is in order.
SALESMEN'S UNION, respondents. 6. The company has adopted the foregoing norms unilaterally —
The foregoing findings constitute a substantial compliance with the generally by the promulgation of pertinent rules — without the
Roxas and Sarmiento for petitioner. constitutional mandate invoked by the Company. In any event, this intervention or consent of the agents, and without any objection on
Pascual Y. Reyes for respondent CIR. Court held in Talabon vs. Provincial Warden  (78 Phil., 599; 44 Off. their part. Both parties have thereby indicated that the Company
Luis B. Mauricio for respondent Union. Gaz. 4326) that failure to comply with said requirement of our has full authority to determine the manner and conditions under
Cipriano Cid as Amicus Curiae. fundamental law does not nullify or affect the validity of the decision
which the agents shall perform their duties. In other words, the
or order in question. Company has control over the conduct of its salesmen or agents.
Thus, absence of any duty on their part to keep regular office hours,
CONCEPCION, J.: submit a police clearance and punch the bundy clock, and of other
The main issue is whether the members of petitioning Union are additional duties, is due, not to lack of power or authority to impose
employees of the Company, for purposes of certification of the the same, but merely to a policy of the management which deems
An appeal, taken by Juan Ysmael & Co., Inc., hereafter referred to former as the sole and exclusive bargaining representative of all the it, for the time being, either unnecessary or inexpedient or both,
as the Company, from an order of the Presiding Judge of the Court salesmen of the latter. The Company maintains the negative upon owing to the peculiar nature of the task of commission agents.
of Industrial Relations, which was affirmed by the Court sitting in the ground that the members of petitioning Union are mere
banc, certifying the Ysmael Steel Salemen's Union, hereafter commission agents or sales representatives, whose form of
referred to as the petitioning Union, as the sole and exclusive selection and engagement is different from that of the employees of 7. All sales of products of Ysmael Steel Manufacturing Company
bargaining representative of all the salesmen of the Company, with the Company, for unlike such employees, commission agents are are seemingly effected through the aforementioned salesmen or
all the rights and obligations imposed by law. not required to undergo physical examination, to submit a police commission agents. There are no other persons, apart from the
clearance, and to punch the bundy clock, and are not provided with sales manager and sales supervisor of the Company, charged with
identification cards. It is further urged that commission agents are the duty to sell therefor said products.
On November 27, 1957, the petitioning Union, a legitimate labor
paid neither wages nor salaries, but are granted commissions, the
organization duly registered with the Department of Labor, filed a
amount of which depends on their sales, and that their conduct as
petition praying for the aforesaid certification, upon the ground that
agents is not subject to the control or supervision of the Company, 8. The salesmen or agents in question are, according to the
it is a labor organization composed of all the salesmen working for assistant general manager of the Company, registered as members
which, moreover, has no power of dismissal over them.
the Ysmael Steel Manufacturing Co., which is operated by the of the Social Security System, established by Republic Act No.
Company, as a subsidiary thereof, both of which are employers of 1161, as amended by Republic Act No. 1792, sections 9 and 8(d) of
the aforementioned salesmen; that there are in the Company two The aforementioned difference in the manner of "selection and which reads:
(2) other labor unions, namely, the Ysmael Steel Labor engagement" does not prove, however, the alleged absence of
Organization (PAFLU), the membership of which is composed employer-employee relationship. Most business enterprises have
mainly of manual factory workers (non-supervisors), and the employees of different classes, necessarily requiring different xxx     xxx     xxx
Ysmael Steel Employees Union, the membership of which is methods of selection and contracts of services of various types,
composed of supervisors, non-supervisors who are technical without detracting from the existence of said relationship. Besides, SEC. 9. — Compulsory coverage. — Coverage in the
employees, office non-technical employees and clerical factory the very evidence for the Company shows that commission agents System shall be compulsory upon all employees
workers, and that the members of petitioning Union are not included are dispensed from physical examination and from punching the between the ages of sixteen and sixty years, inclusive,
in or represented by any of said two (2) unions in their collective bundy clock because their duties are extraneous to the factory work if they have been for at least six months in the service
bargaining agreement with the Company, for the economic factors and they have no fixed hours to contact their customers. of an employer who is a member of the System ... .
affecting the members of petitioning Union are different and they
constitute a separate and distinct union for an appropriate
bargaining unit. The Company filed an answer objecting to the Again, the records disclose the following facts, among others: SEC. 8. — Terms defined. — For the purposes of this
petition upon several grounds, which were, in effect, overruled by Act, the following shall, unless the context indicates
the Court in the order appealed from. 1. One who wishes to be a commission agent must file an otherwise, have the following meanings:
application therefor. Then he is given a two-month probationary
The Company assails the same as null and void for alleged want of period, within which technical men of the Company train him. On (d) Employee. — Any person who performs services
a clear and distinct statement of the law and facts on which it is the basis of his performance during said period, the Company, for an "employer" in which either or both mental and
based, in violation, it is claimed, of Article VIII, Section 12, of the thereafter, decides whether or not he will be taken as a regular physical efforts are used and who receives
Constitution. The pertinent part of the order appealed from reads as commission agent. compensation for such services.
follows:
2. His duties as such include the following: ( a) One hundred per Pursuant to section 2, paragraphs (c) and (d), of
At the hearing of this case on February 11, March 12, centum (100%) "loyalty to the Company", and "disloyalty of any Republic Act No. 875:
26 and May 5, 1958, the following facts appear to form or free-lancing for any other company during their tour of duty,
have been established in evidence: That the will be sufficient cause for cutting allowances and withdrawal of the
petitioning Union is duly registered by the Department authority to sell for the Company." (b) He must check in at 8:00 An employer includes any person acting in the interest
of Labor and is, therefore, a legitimate labor a.m., to "report daily all visits made", and "any misrepresentation of an employer, directly or indirectly, but shall not
organization within the meaning of Section 2( f) of the with regard to coverage will be sufficient cause for cutting include any labor organization (otherwise than when
Act; that the Company is a corporation engaged in the allowances." He was, also, required, before, to check in at 4:00 acting as an employer) or anyone acting in the
manufacture of steel equipment, machines, etc., p.m., but subsequently, this requirement was eliminated. ( c) He capacity of officer or agent of such labor organization.
owned and operated by the Juan Ysmael & Company, "must list in his daily report all items offered to customers, plus (Sec. 2[c], Rep. Act No. 875.)
Inc; that at the time of the instant petition for results." (d) He "has to visit his accounts at least twice every
certification was filed, there were twenty (20) month", and "if he fails to visit an account within two (2) months, he
The term "employee" shall include any employee and
salesmen or commission agents working for the shall automatically lose any claim to his account."
shall not be limited to the employee of a particular
Company, but that as of March 26, 1958, only fourteen employer unless the Act explicitly states otherwise and
(14) of them were left; and that neither of the two 3. The Company directs the details of the work of making sales, shall include any individual whose work has ceased as
unions existing in the Company, namely the Ysmael through a sales manager, under whose authority commission a consequence of, or in connection with, any current
Steel Employees' Union, represents the members of agents are. labor dispute or because of any labor practice and
the petitioning Union in any of their respective who has not obtained any other substantially
collective bargaining agreement with the Company. equivalent and regular employment. (Sec. 2[d], id.)
4. As the agents or salesmen report for work each morning, they
are given transportation allowances of P1.50 or P2.00 each. They
Furthermore, after a careful examination of the have, also, a drawing allowance, the amount of which varies
records, particularly the respective memoranda filed depending upon past performances, deductible from future
by both of the petitioning Union and the Company, and commissions.
after a mature consideration of all the proofs submitted
in evidence in this case by both parties, the Court
In the light of the foregoing, it is our considered opinion that the
lower court did not err in holding that the members of petitioning
Union are employees of the Company — within the purview of the
terms "employer" and "employee" as defined in the Industrial Peace
Act — for purposes of certification of said union as the bargaining
representative of its salesmen or commission agents.

It is next argued by the Company that said members of petitioning

Union do not constitute a majority of its salesmen or commission
agents. This pretense is, however, contrary to the above quoted
findings of fact of the lower court, which, admittedly, are borne out
by Exhibit C, a list of the salesmen or agents affiliated to petitioning
Union. Hence, said findings may not be disturbed in this proceeding
for review by certiorari. (Rule 44, Sec. 2, Rules of Court; Sec. 14.
Com. Act No. 103, Philippine Refining Co. Workers' Union vs.
Philippine Refining Co., Inc., 80 Phil., 531; 45 Off. Gaz., 159).
Besides, although the Company now says that said list, Exhibit C, is
not correct, the fact is that, in its answer, filed with the lower court, it
merely averred that it is "not certain" that the members of petitioning
Union constitute a majority of the salesmen or commission agents
of said Company. At any rate, the record shows that the same had
twenty (20) salesmen or commission agents when this case was
instituted; that, at the time of the hearing in the lower court, there
were only fourteen (14) of them working for the Company; and that,
with the exception of one (1) of them, the remaining thirteen (13)
salesmen or commission agents are members of petitioning Union,
and there is no accuracy of the finding to this effect in the order
appealed from simply because only three (3) of these salesmen or
agents appeared at the aforementioned hearing. Apart from the fact
they were not required to be present at said hearing, the reluctance
of employees or agents to do anything that may antagonize the
employer, or may give occasion for antagonism, is readily
understandable.

Wherefore, the order appealed from is hereby affirmed, with costs

against petitioner herein, Juan Ysmael & Co., Inc. It is so ordered.