COUNTRY REPORT: FFW/PHILIPPINES

Philippine Trade Union Situation

In the Phillippines, generally, Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) coverage and union
membership are declining (see Figure 1 in Annex 1) .
Today, with total workforce of about 40 million, some 6-7% thereof or about 2.8 million are
members of unions and workers’ associations 1, that are either independently registered or
affiliated with national unions and national federations. There are about 4,000 registered local
unions that are enterprise-based or registered workers’ associations, 138 or so are duly
registered national unions and national federations and some 8 recognized trade union centers
operate. 2 However, according to the Bureau of Labor Relation (BLR) of the Department of Labor
and Employment (DOLE), only a little more than 200,000 are covered by the CBAs.
Multiplicity and fragmentation still infect the trade union movement; however, no matter if
slowly, unions are learning to work together and act together on issues of common concern.
Also, while the Philippines is among the leading nations of the the world where women are
taking strategic leadership in business and government, this is not true with the trade unions.
Here women trade union leaders are gaining grounds but not enough to keep pace with the
faster growth of women taking strategic leadership in business and government.
Among other reasons, these developments are due to a confluence of factors brought about by
globalization, the weaknesses of our own political economy and to some extent by the inability
of traditional unionism to adapt to fast changing situations.
1. Partly because of globalization and partly as a result of economic under-development, the
informal sector is still growing: 3 informalization of the workforce is now said to be between the
official estimate at 46% of the employed while independent studies claim that the informal
sector has grown to a size that spans 70% of the labor force. (See Figure 2 in Annex 1 for the
structure of the labor market of the Philippines) The informal sector is largely unprotected by
labor laws and traditional unions are unable to fully organize them because they are also
meeting problems of continuing retrenchment and redundancy and the resistance of employers
against their workers who unionize that take the form of union busting or union avoidance.

1
The differences between unions and workers’ associations is that unions are conferred by law the right to
collective bargaining while workers’ associations mostly exist for mutual aid and protection, including cooperatives
2
Local unions are enterprise-based. National Unions group together local unions in the same or similar industry.
National Federations bring together enterprise-based unions across industries. Trade Union Centers are usually
made up of big enterprise-based unions, national unions and national federations including groups of workers’
associations.
3
People must work to earn wages or incomes to satisfy their needs. Those who cannot be employed as wage
earners or self-employed in the formal sector of the economy are forced to earn their living in the informal sector.
The impact of globalization, as also the under-development of the economy and the working of a booty capitalist
political economy force workers who cannot be absorbed in the formal economy to work in the informal sector.

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 However, informal sector workers themselves have developed their own organizations that are
either independent of trade unions or linked to them.
To survive harsh global competition, employers resort to work flexibilization, such as,
contractualizations, casualization, fixed-term employment and other forms of flexible working
arrangements 4 such as hiring and placement of workers through manpower placement agencies
a sizeable number of which are operated by cooperatives, which undermine the ‘old concept’of
job security. Somehow, the policies and programs of International Financial Institutions such as
the ADB, Wold Bank and the International Monetary Fund have been partly responsible for this
state of affairs. (See Figure 3, Annex 1) Usually as contractuals, casual or workers hired and
placed by the manpower agencies or cooperatives, these type of workers are not covered by
Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) because eligibility to union membership and coverage
of CBAs is confined among regular and permanent employees.
2. The Philippine political economy is described by some scholars and experts as a booty-
capitalist type of state. It is dominated by the economic and oligarchic elites who also control
politics and its electoral exercises through their ability to finance elections and candidates. 5 In
consequence, laws and policies are distored to favor their interest and democractic
institutions are weakened, including trade unions. Investors who create jobs are thereby
discouraged. As a result, poverty persists, usually in the form of unemployment but also largely
because of underemployment and precarious work. The workings of this political economy is
depicted in Figure 4 of Annex 1.
3. While Philippines is one country also known for its extensive labor and social legislation, the
fact remains that our national law and practice are accordingly mis-aligned or non-compliant to
global standards set by ILO Conventions and Recommendations. In fact, labor law so regulates
and restricts unoinism more than other type of workers’ organizaitons so much so that unions
are unable to grow as fast as they should. Abetted by legislation, so called traditional unionism
in the Philippines has gained the character of “rice and fish” or “bread and butter” unionism.

Social Dialogue in the Philippines

Social Dialogue in the Philippines is fairly extensive: information are readily available on-line , in the Formatted: Font: 11 pt
tri-media, academic studies and and in publicaitons about subjects of social dialogue. Consultation is Formatted: Font: 11 pt
fairly well practiced at many levels, both in public as well as private circles. Negotiations, broadly
understood, are undertaken at most meaningful levels and between and among the social partners.

4
In the Philippines, flexible working arrangements are often interchanged with the terms non-regular
employment, non-standard employment, vulnerable employment, atypical workforce or precarious work. The law
recognizes various types of non-regular employment: probationary, casual, contractual, agency-hired, seasonal,
project, fixed-term. Official Statistics define other types such as precarious workers and vulnerable workers, low-
paid workers, workers working excessive hours (beyond 48 hrs a week)
5
One characterization of Philippine politics is that it is dominated by Political Dynasties, defined as composing of
political families and extended clans who are able to get themselves elected as national leaders and officials of
local government units. Often, both their economic and political interests join the oligarchic elite and political
dynasties.

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For example, there is a set process and mechanism on how the Philippines ratifies international
conventions and treaties. This is depicted in Figure 5 of Annex 1:
Formal mechanisms are in place at national, sectoral and local levels.
Congress, the legislative body, has its own formal mechanism in making laws (see Annex 3 for a Formatted: Font: Italic
diagramatic presentation of how laws are passed). Through the party list system, the marginalized
sectors, including trade unions, can elect their own party list in Congress, and through them they can
participate in the making of laws. Despite this, certain quarters raise the issue of their effectiveness in
championing the interest of their constituencies in the halls of Congress. In addtion, the party-list
representtives and how they are chosen by their party list isstill shadowy in many instances.
Through their organizations, workers and other sectors are represented in some 30 or so tripartite
bodies by their officials who are appointed by the President or his alter-egos – the secretarries and
cabinet members.. However, the issue of selection of workers’ representatives in these tripartite
bodies and their accountability to their constituents is being debated, as also their competence and
capability to carry out their tasks
Still on tripartism, the Philippines has ratified Convention 144 of the ILO. There exists, too, a tripartite
mechanism at national, regional and industry level. These are called Tripartite Industrial Peace
Councils. This is depicted in Figure 6 of Annex 1. For its ouput, these bodies have adopted a number
of resolutions and recommendations on how administrative orders and issuances and guidelines had
been made or amended. In some, when consensus is reached, the output is adopted and issued by the
DOLE as is. In others, where consensus is not reached, the DOLE issues the administrative orders,
guidelines and Resolutions using its own discretion and powers. The social partners are extensively
represented in these tripartite mechanism.
Collective Bargaining as understood in the standards set by ILO Convention 98 on the right to organize
and promotion of collective bargaining is a different matter. Our national law and practice have often
been criticized by the supervisory bodies of the ILO as mis-aligned or non-compliant. The issue on the
limitations on the right to strike is most controversial in three ways: Instead of adopting the concept
of essential services as reocmmendedby ILO, our law and practice instead follow the concept of
national interest. Thus, government has extensive powers to curb the right to strike, which they do.
This is one reason why the number of strikes as officially reported have declined sometime to
absurdity, like 2 or 3 strikes in a year. Secondly, reent juriprudence of the Supreme Court has declated
that shaving ofheads as a form of protest is also an illegal strike action, resulting in the dismissal of
workers who protested by shaving their heads. Thirdly, illegal strikes most always results in the
dismissal of the strikers, which the ILO considers as too harsh a punishment.
Taken together with Freedom of Association (Convention 87) to which our national law and practice
have been extensively criticized for mis-aignment to the ILO standards, the result has been the
declining coverage of unionism and collective bargaining.
The trends in collective bargaining in the Philippinesis is summarized in Annex 4.
According to these trends, collective bargaining has no impact in promoting good practices in
industrial relations in general and in substantially improving the benefits of workforce in particular.

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One recent study done by an expert and published by the ILO even commented that, in fact,
mandatory minimum wage fixing is pacing the trend of negotiated wage increases, instead of the
reverse. What has been left unsaid is that the bodies that fix minimm wages are tripartite in character
and that some unions think that because of the minimal coverage of collective bargaining agreement,
minimum wage fixing has become an alternative to negotiating wage increases at the regional level.
In fact, the Philippine minimum wage is lower than Singapore, South Korea and Malaysia but much
higher than any other ASEAN country, including China. Formatted: Font: 11 pt

Major Trade Union Challenges

This situation challenges the trade unions in three major ways:
1. Unions must shape more responsive strategies in organising all types of workers into modes
that are most appropriate for their status and capacity as workers in both the formal and
informal economy. This includes developing membership services needed to respond to the
needs of members and to strengthen workers’ organizations.
2. Unions must advocate and work for laws and policies to eliminate poverty and that will
remove the scourge of unemployment and underemployment; similarly, they must advocate
for laws and policies that move towards achieiving decent work for all in its four
sectors/pillars: productive work, rights at work, social protection and social dialogue This
include aligning national law and practice to the standards set by ILO Conventions, especially
in respect to promoting freedom of association and the right to orgnize (Convention 87) and
the right to organize and promotion of collective bargaining ( Convention 98).
3. Unions must find a way to unite themselves internally and also to link with international
trade unions and global union federations 6 to more effectively address the roots of
globalization that has resulted in the race to the bottom in labor standards.
Response of the FFW-ITUC
Thus the strategic response of the Federation of Free Workers (FFW) is a continuing
transformation from a ‘traditional’ trade union organization to a ‘trade union social movement’
such that, from limiting its membership to those workers in the ‘formal sector’ and only as
collective bargaining agent, or those workers who only have ‘employer-employee relationship’,
FFW now embraces all types of workers into its membership including workers in the formal
economy (wage and salary workers in formal sector establishments) and workers the informal
economy, such as farmers ,fishers ,folks, drivers, vendors ,youth, women etc. (see Annex 2)
Annex 2 also specifies 10 strategies that FFW uses in this process of renewal or transformation.
As to structure and organization, in FFW, the highest policy and decision making body is the
National Convention which convene every five (5) years. It is composed of delegates of
accredited ‘good standing’ local union members/affilaites of the Federation and delegates from

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FFW is affiliated to the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). Four (TF II, III, V and VIII) of its 8 trade
federations/industry groupings are affiliated to the Global Union Federations (GUFs), namely: the Building Workers
International (BWI), IndustryALL, (a merger of the IMF, ICEM and ITGWF) and the Education International (EI).

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 the 8 Trade Federations (TFs) and the FFW Women’s Network (FWN). The National Convention
is chaired by the National President while the Governing Board (GB) serves as its Steering
Committee. The National Convention confirms the composition of the Committee on
Accreditation and Verification of Powers who accredit the delegates to the Convention. An
independent Commission on Election, composed by the Board and confirmed by the National
Convention manages the electoral exercise.
In between National Conventions, the Governing Board (GB) decides. The GB is composed of
the convention-elected: National President; National Vice-President; National Treasurer; 3 Vice-
Presidents (for Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao and their deputies; 5 members who are elected at
large and who are designated as chairpersons of constitutional commissions and special
committees; each chairperson-elect of the 8 Trade/industry Federations and their deputies; and
the chairperson-elect of the FFW Women’s Network.
During the 22nd National Convention in May 2006, 6 were women out of 31 elected
Governing Board members.
During the 23rd National Convention in June 2011, 12 were women out of 31 elected
Governing Board members.
About 25% of all elected local union presidents of FFW are women. Together with other
female local union officers, they are associated into a peak organization called the FFW
Women’s Network.

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