UST VS SAMAHANG MANGGAGAWA NG UST

Acceptance of award or benefit by individual members not a waiver of the unions claim. Union
members individual acceptance of the award and the resulting payments made by company
does not operate as a ratification of the DOLE Secretarys award; nor a waiver of their right to
receive further benefits, or what they may be entitled to under the law. Necessitous men are not,
truly speaking, free men; but to answer a present emergency, will submit to any terms that the
crafty may impose upon them.
CBA signing bonus presupposes successful negotiation. A signing bonus is a grant motivated by
the goodwill generated when a CBA is successfully negotiated and signed between the employer
and the union. When no CBA was successfully negotiated by the parties, there shall be no basis
to allow an award of signing bonus.
N.B. In this case, the court awarded signing bonus because the petitioner failed to question the
original award of signing bonus despite unsuccessful negotiation. The court held thus: A bonus is
a gratuity or act of liberality of the giver; when petitioner filed the instant petition seeking the
affirmance of the DOLE Secretarys Order in its entirety, assailing only the increased amount of
the signing bonus awarded, it is considered to have unqualifiedly agreed to grant the original
award to the respondent unions members. (University of Santo Tomas vs. Samahang
Manggagawa ng UST (SM-UST), G.R. No. 169940, September 14, 2009.)