31 July 2024 – Extreme heat, floods, high rice price despite imports. Ever-growing real GDP, but depressed real wages and earnings. Slow economic growth, brought in part by no sharing with workers of the real gains in production and productivity. These concerns are affecting safety and health in workplaces and communities. They are affecting even people’s mental health. Participants noted these challenges in the 2024 edition of the long-running series of the joint JILAF/NTUC Phl Seminars on Employment Security and Constructive Industrial Relations with the theme “Assuring Health and Safety for Workers and their Families in the Just Transitions” that took place against this backdrop of multiple challenges.

NTUC union people together with resource persons from different sectors and agencies have tackled different issues in these seminars: the economy and employment; collective bargaining and labor relations; Covid responses; the future of work; digital, artificial intelligence, and formality transitions; social development goals (SDGs), among other topics.

This year saw a return to the topic of safety and health (OSH) in line with the adoption of OSH as the fifth ILO fundamental principle in 2022 and the slow progress in the implementation of the country’s OSH law of 2018. This recalls the series of these POSITIVE seminars many years ago that built the skills and competencies of many of current federation leaders in NTUC and other unions.

This year also saw an old issue but with a new slant — responsible supply chains and human rights due diligence (HRDD). Production, distribution, and services have become global, more multi-national, more controlled by cross-border companies. Compliance with human, trade union, and workers’ rights and just transitions have become more complicated and require additional complementary mechanisms to assist workers and trade unions in exacting employer compliance with national laws and regulations and international labor standards, as well as various MNC corporate codes of conduct, framework agreements, ILO tripartite declarations, OECD guidelines on multinational corporations.

General Secretary Rodolfo Capoquian reminded that lifelong learning – for a rapidly changing world, changes in work, developing challenges – requires that workers and trade unions adapt and adjust. Especially with the quadruple digital, artificial intelligence, green, and informal transitions that are shaping developments in the world of work.

The GenSec expressed appreciation for the relationships that have been built with many JILAF people and respected Japanese trade unionists who have come and made their contributions to the Philippine trade union movement.

JILAF Executive Director Toshihiro Motobayash introduced the main activities of JILAF: the Invitation Program, where 3,700 trade union leaders from 130 countries (122 from the Philippines) learn about Japanese trade union activities and labor legislation; seminars on labor-management relations based on the priority issues of the national labor union organizations in each country that aim to build constructive labor-management relations and stabilize employment (110,000 people have participated in these seminars); grassroots social development projects in Thailand, Nepal, Bangladesh, Laos, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, and Cambodia to help informal sector workers improve their lives and build social safety nets; and non-formal schools in Nepal and India aimed at eradicating child labor. 

This year, JILAF is sharing the newly developed participatory workplace improvement program “PROACTIVE”, including methods of addressing human rights issues in the workplace that the United Nations is espousing. 

He noted that the COVID-19 pandemic has left many scars around the world; the economic and social situation is still very unstable. He hoped the seminar would provide good practices that labor unions could do in these difficult times that would lead to social and economic development, employment stability, and the protection of workers’ rights.

The First Secretary of the Japanese Embassy in the Philippines Chihiro Kanno noted that the theme highly fits the current situation: rapidly transforming work condition that requires adaptation and just transition while ensuring occupational safety and health. Appropriate open communication and strong tripartite cooperation are necessary for harmonious work environment. Cooperation and exchange of knowledge from experiences of counterpart labor unions through the years have helped friendship between Japan and the Philippines. He hopes cooperation and friendship will continue to flourish and advance solutions that will greatly benefit Philippine workers.

The Seminar Program and Resource Persons:

Session 1. “What we learned, What we have done since” the JILAF Invitation Programme By Brother RICHARD IRORITA (Obrero Pilipino), Brother JOSEPH BORJA (NATOW), and Sister FLORAMAE MAUSiSA (FFF)

Testimonials from the 1996-2009 POSITIVE programme participants and the 2022-2024 JILAF invitation programme participants.Session

2. Where are we with Universal Health Care in the Philippines?
By Ms. ARSENIA B. TORRES, Senior Manager, Social Health Insurance Academy (SHIA), Philhealth

Session 3. The Philippine National OSH framework: Legislation, OSH system,
OSH profile, OSH program, Enterprise-level systems
By OSHC Executive Director JOSE MARIA S. BATINO, CESO IV

Session 4. PROACTIVE – Improving Health and Safety in the Workplace
By JILAF Executive Director TOSHIHIRO MOTOBAYASHI

Session 5. Role of Unions in Responsible Supply Chains
Sister AKIKO TAGA, JILAF Program Manager of the Labour Related Development &
Grass Roots Group

Session 6. Group/Individual Discussions on Action Plans

The participants’ women representative (from POSTAL) and the youth representative (from NATOW) expressed appreciation for much learning and knowledge gained. They realized that “maraming kulang sa company”. They pledged to work with the management to create safe space and make positive impact to improve conditions in the workplace and community environment.

JILAF’s Executive Director Motobayashi summed up: JILAF presented 2 sessions, indicating the new directions of JILAF: POSITIVE and PROACTIVE in supply chains. They are not new things; only the procedures are. They serve as mandate for the company and the union to develop and improve work conditions as part of human rights. He acknowledged the Center’s pioneering in the implementation of POSITIVE and, this time, in PROACTIVE. He urged participants to share their learning with the company and workers. He pledged to continue to support NTUC on what can be done as planned.

The closing message of General Secretary Rodolfo Capoquian was read by the Deputy General Secretary: We appreciate the JILAF/NTUC Phl partnership, not only because of the exciting program, but also the many opportunities to advance learning by participants. We note that there are also many online participants who wish they could be in person.

There are many new challenges in the workplace due to rapid developments in the world of work. There is new learning about the two major topics in the seminar this year: safety and health, and human rights due diligence in supply chains. All these will assist our unions in their work in workplaces. We look forward to the implementation of participants’ proposals for Action.

We appreciate JILAF, Brother Toshi and Sister Akiko in person, the resource persons, facilitators, participants, Secretariat, interpreters, and others who assisted us in this seminar.

NTUC Youth representative and ASCEND-NATOW President Karen Badilla moderated proceedings on the first day; NATOW President Avelino Caraan, Jr. on the second day.