ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the 1972 Labor Code, the main changes it introduced, and the significance of those changes. The enactment of the 1972 Labor Code was the single most important act engaged in by the Torrijos regime to incorporate the labor sector in order to gain popular backing as well as legitimacy for the regime. The basic changes introduced by the Labor Code can be separated into three groups: those regarding the individual, those of a collective nature, and those pertaining to procedural matters. Faced with such an intractable situation, the Labor Code Commission saw no alternative but to recommend that a system of job security or stability of employment be adopted. The provisions of the 1972 Labor Code regarding collective labor relations were designed to strengthen the existing unions and to promote the growth of organized labor. The Labor Code Commission introduced methods that would make the judicial process related to labor as expedient as possible.
