AIM found guilty of unfair labor practices

The National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) found the Asian Institute of Management guilty of committing unfair labor practices for interfering in the activities of the AIM Faculty Association (AFA) and harassing its officials and members.

The AFA, represented by Emmanuel Leyco, filed the complaint against AIM after he and Dr. Victor Limlinga, AFA chairman, were issued a one-year suspension on April 27, 2007 for questioning AIM’s failure to give their rightful share of the tuition increases the school imposed on its students over several years.

According to the AFA, the suspension is just one in a long list of unfair practices committed on professors who were members of the union.

In a 25-page decision, NLRC labor arbiter Marita Padolina said such repeated acts “clearly demonstrate acts of interference in the union activities.”

“Verily, all acts of respondent AIM were geared towards the denial to complainant of this fundamental right” of self-organization, Padolina said.

Padolina brushed off AIM’s argument that it did not harass the AFA members to stop them from forming the union since the acts the AFA complained about were made when the union was already formed.

“The Supreme Court has upheld the right of every worker, free of any interference from the employer or from government, to form, join or assist labor organizations for the purpose of collective bargaining or for their mutual aid and protection,” Padolina said.