Philippines

Organization responsible for the statistics

The statistics are collected and compiled by the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) and published by both the NCMB and the Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics.

Objectives and users

Not available.

Coverage

Strikes and lockouts

The statisics cover: Sympathetic strikes, political or protest strikes, general strikes and rotating or revolving strikes are not included, nor are working to rule, go-slows or overtime bans. Boycotts, mass leave, slowdowns, sit-ins, etc. are technically covered in the definition of a strike if they partly constitute actual stoppages of work arising from labour disputes. However, the Department has not come across these types of action and therefore the current statistics only reflect actual work stoppages.

Minimum threshold Duration of at least one full workday or shift.

Economic activities

Public administration is not covered; data on strikes initiated by government employees are compiled separately.

Workers

Workers directly involved and workers indirectly involved. Workers involved are taken to mean the general membership of the striking unit or the total employment of establishments involved if all operations are paralyzed, whether or not some of these workers did not directly participate in the strike or lockout. In the case of the latter, workers who are considered indirectly involved are included in the official statistics on workers involved. However, separate data on workers indirectly involved are not available. An estimate can be computed as the difference between total employment and the union members of the establishment, but workers in canteens and other establishment whose operations are stopped or hampered because of the strike or lockout are excluded.

As well as regular paid employees, including part-time workers, the statistics cover temporary, casual and seasonal workers, and workers absent on sick or annual leave or absent for any other reason. Unpaid family workers are not included, nor are workers laid off.

No specific occupational groups are excluded.

Geographic areas

Whole country.

Data collected

Concepts and definitions

Strike

Any temporary stoppage of work by the concerted action of employees as a result of an industrial dispute.

Lockout

The temporary refusal of an employer to furnish work to his employees as a result of an industrial or labour dispute. It comprises shutdowns, mass retrenchment and dismissals. It may be total (one month or less), temporary (one month to six months) or permanent (more than six months).

Both definitions come from the Labor Code of the Philippines.

Methods of measurement

Strikes and lockouts

In general, a single strike or lockout is identified in terms of the case of dispute, which is the deciding factor before it is based on a bargaining unit. Normally, the case of dispute varies from one bargaining unit to another in the same establishment or enterprise. For this reason, the case of dispute is sometimes mistaken for the bargaining unit, so that the case of dispute becomes synonymous to the bargaining unit when counting the number of strikes or lockouts. The distinction between bargaining units is clearer than the case of dispute, so the count of strikes and lockouts is easier if the bargaining units are used.

If work stoppages due to the same case of dispute occur in several establishments or branches, they are counted as one strike or lockout. Therefore, work stoppages occurring simultaneously in different establishments or local workplaces of the same enterprise are counted as only one strike or lockout, provided the case of dispute or the set of issues raised in the dispute is the same. If there are two or more bargaining units and the case of dispute or issues raised by the bargaining units differ from each other, the stoppages are counted as one strike or lockout in each bargaining unit because each has a different case of dispute.

Stoppages resulting from the same case of dispute but occurring at different times in the same enterprise are counted as the same strike or lockout. However, if a strike or lockout was already settled, and another stoppage occurs in the same enterprise or bargaining unit, which may cover the same case of dispute, it is counted as a new strike or lockout. Often, the second stoppage occurs as a result of a violation of or non compliance with a settlement agreement, so the case of dispute is different from the previous one.

The continuation of a strike or lockout that is interrupted but later resumes, still due to the same case of dispute, is counted as a new strike or lockout. Work stoppages resulting from the same case of dispute but occurring either simultaneously or at different times in establishments of different enterprises are counted as a separate strike or lockout for each enterprise, as the statistics do not cover general or sympathy strikes.

Economic units involved

The economic unit is the bargaining unit, defined as a group of employees who voluntarily unite and, by government or employer recognition, is deemed to constitute the appropriate unit for bargaining purposes. Such a unit may be composed of workers in a single craft, or include all or most workers in an entire plant or several branches within an area or an entire industry. The economic unit includes other employees who are not members of the bargaining unit. The unit includes all employees of the enterprise.

Workers involved

The number of workers involved is the total employment in the economic units involved, or the number of members in the union involved. Part-time workers are counted as individuals on the same basis as full-time workers.

Duration

The duration is measured in normal workdays from the day the strike or lockout began in the first bargaining unit to the day it was resolved in the last bargaining unit involved.

Time not worked

Total time not worked is measured in workdays, as the product of the number of workers involved and the duration. The shorter working hours of part-time workers are not taken into account, nor is overtime.

Classifications

Cause of dispute

Outcome of dispute

Method of settlement

Branch of economic activity

The data are classified by major industry using the Philippine Standards Industry Classification (PSIC).

Number of workers involved

Duration

Other

Reference period and periodicity

The statistics are compiled and published for periods of a week, a month, a quarter, six months and a year. They refer to strikes and lockouts beginning during the particular reference period plus those continuing from the previous period.

Analytical measures

Percentage changes in different indicators (number of establishments, workers involved, days not worked) are calculated for comparative periods (e.g. first quarter of current year with respect to first quarter of previous year). The following are also calculated:

Historical background of the series

Not available.

Documentation

Series available

Not available.

Bibliographic references

National Conciliation and Mediation Board: Weekly strike situationer (weekly).

Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics: Labor and Employment Statistical Report (quarterly).

Idem: Current Labor Statistics (monthly);

Idem: Yearbook of Labor Statistics (annual).

General circulation newspapers.

Data published by the ILO

The number of strikes and lockouts, the number of workers involved and the number of days not worked, by economic activity.

Confidentiality

Not available.

International standards

Not available.

Methods of data collection

There is no legal obligation to report the occurrence of a strike or lockout. Information is obtained by voluntary reports or from labour and management, as requested by the Department of Labor and Employment Agencies in the course of the conciliation of disputes.