DOJ leads signing of IRR on government workers' right to self-organize

The Department of Justice (DOJ), along with the Civil Service Commission (CSC), Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Department of Finance (DOF), and Department of Budget and Management (DBM), led the initiation and formal signing of the 2024 Rules and Regulations of Executive Order (E.O.) No. 180 series 1987, which governs the exercise of the right of government employees to self-organize.

This is due to E.O. 180, which established the Public Sector Labor Management Council (PSLMC) to create rules and regulations governing government employees' rights to form employee organizations, be acknowledged, and granted rights and privileges by the government.

The salient provisions of the 2024 IRR contain the Registration of National Employees' Organizations (NEO), which is the coalition of registered employee organizations within an agency for Collective Negotiation Agreements (CNAs), provided clearer qualifications and criteria for personnel eligibility to join employee organizations, use of electronic filing of pleadings/documents and online platforms, integration of new council policies, employee elections, and other important guidelines.

“Government employees are the engine of our bureaucracy, the unseen hands that guide the ship of state. They translate policy into action, rights into realities, and service into progress. Their ability to organize is pivotal to a responsive and resilient government,” Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin “Boying” C. Remulla said in his welcome remarks delivered by Undersecretary Fredderick A. Vida.

“Today, as we inscribe our names unto  this document, we celebrate the role of each government employee in shaping a government that is of the people, by the people and for the people,” Remulla added. 

He further said, “The IRR we sign today is a promise — a promise to safeguard the rights of those who serve our country, to support their well-being and to support their invaluable contribution to our nation."

In 2004, the 1987 Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of EO 180 was amended. 

After a series of consultations, study, review, and scrutiny of the old IRR, the council was able to revise the old IRR in 2023 which paved the way to the historical signing of the 2024 IRR today.

Remulla extended his gratitude to PSLMC and to every individual who contributed to this IRR. 

“Your work has fortified the structure within which our government operated,” Remulla concluded.

CSC Chairman Atty. Karlo Nograles also attended the signing. He expressed the importance of crafting rules and regulations as effective mechanisms in the workplace to deliver efficient public service.