Philippine Trade Unions Walk the “Green” Talk

Cagayan de Oro City, Mindanao, October 2011 – Not letting momentum pass without renewed action, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) and Workers Development Foundation Inc. (WDFI),with support from the Japanese unions led by the Japan International Labour Foundation (JILAF), together with 25 young trade union leaders from 17 local affiliated unions in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, joined the country’ countdown to Rio+20 with a National Workshop on Green Jobs and Decent Work on October 17-18, 2011 in Cagayan de Oro City.

“Our engagement in green programs started with great optimism”, said Bro. Ernesto Herrera, TUCP General Secretary, recalling that in 2007 TUCP affiliates and members decided to carry out non-traditional (trade unions’) ambitious sustainable development actions and activities.

“We started with ambitious goals with a serious commitment for action. Looking back from where and how our engagements began, how much we’ve learned, and what we have accomplished to date, that green journey needs more action from trade unions”, pointed out Bro. Herrera.

Together with representatives from the Climate Change Commission (CCC), regional offices (Region 10) of the Department of Labour and the Regional Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB), the largest Japanese national center, the Japanese Trade Union Confederation (JTUC-RENGO), and the Japan International Labour Foundation (JILAF), the program looked at government’s current programs and initiatives on green jobs and appreciated actual, on-the-ground experiences, activities and green and greening programs of unions.

“We are happy to see the extent of engagement, the variety of activities and of how far Philippine unions have gone in green jobs and decent work” said Bro. Yoshiharu Sonezaki, Assistant Director, Social Policy Division, Department of Economics and Social Policy, JTUC-RENGO.

No longer just confined to workers’ education programs, improving occupational safety and health and collective bargaining, the program showed unions, their members and families’increasing and direct  engagements in reforestation, conservation of marine ecosystem, socio-economic projects using sustainable farming practices such as organic fertilizer production, waste management programs, building communities through sustainable livelihood projects, training and employment placement programs and many others.

“This program was a rewarding experience. It provided us with an opportunity to share own initiatives and building on experiences of other unions and social partners; we are pushed to do more in our own greening efforts’, said Tony Tabotano, union president of a local mining company in Mindanao.

Unions as major actors of sustainability

The participants put forward an urgent call for up-scaling current greening efforts, particularly providing more inclusive and sustainable avenues for unions’ participation in discussions, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of green jobs programs, projects and activities.

“Unions refuse to remain bystanders and will fully engage in this time of great environmental challenge. We will continue to participate, collaborate, contribute and make people, businesses and communities accountable for their (environmental) actions”, noted the participants.

Recognizing the importance of a multi-sectoral approach in addressing local climate change concerns, the participants called upon the Climate Change Commission (CCC) to engage workers and their unions in the implementation of the National Climate Change Action Plan.

As initial commitments to the campaign, the participants committed to partner with the Department of Labour and Employment (DOLE) and its regional boards (RTWPBs) in holding more enterprise-level green jobs advocacy activities, documenting unions’ green and greening practices and inclusions of green provisions in collective bargaining agreements.

Participants were from major target sectors such as services, telecommunication, transportation, manufacturing, mining, agriculture, academe, electronics, public sector and local media.