NTUC Blog

SEVERAL months ago our No. 2 son moved out of our house and into a condominium near his office. For the first two months we barely saw him, as his newfound freedom from the watchful eye and protection of his parents and family meant late nights and long weekends of enjoying that freedom.

The trade union advisory arm of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has reminded foreign companies here to respect workers’ rights in their investment destinations as mandated by the Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.

MANILA, Philippines – Despite robust economic growth so far this year and a series of international credit rating upgrades, inclusive growth and poverty alleviation still elude the Philippines.

BEIJING (AP) — An American executive said he has been held hostage for four days at his medical supply plant in Beijing by scores of workers demanding severance packages like those given to 30 co-workers in a phased-out department.

ITUC calls on World Bank to implement key review panel recommendations 24 June 2013: The International Trade Union Confederation has called on the World Bank to adopt and implement key recommendations made by the independent Doing Business Report Review Panel, headed by South Africa’s Minister of Planning Trevor Manuel.

Now it’s official: the Philippines is the fastest-growing economy in Asia. Beating China’s first quarter growth (7.7 percent) by a hair, our 7.8-percent growth in gross domestic product (GDP) was proudly homegrown, achieved in the face of a hefty drop (-7 percent) in exports. This implies that domestic demand for our economy’s goods and services…

Holding firm Ayala Corp. has overtaken erstwhile leader San Miguel Corp. in the executive compensation race for 2012. Ayala chief executive Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, his younger brother and president Fernando Zobel, and fellow management committee members John Eric Francia, Delfin Gonzalez Jr., Solomon Hermosura and John Philip Orbeta took home P398 million in…

Farmer Rene Ravalo loads coconuts onto a truck in the Philippines for the 30-minute trip to market on a road built last year. It previously took half a day for a water buffalo to inch the goods down a mountain track.

In a statement to the IMFC in Washington, ILO Director-General Guy Ryder says international policy response efforts are not matching growing global concern over growth, job creation and poverty reduction.

UNFAIR TELCOS: The National Telecommunications Commission should stop cellphone companies from holding hostage their contracted users by making them pay a flat pretermination penalty when they opt out before their two-year term is over.

MANILA, Philippines – The declining share of agriculture in the Philippine economy could be a reason for the country’s high poverty incidence.

Fitch Ratings on Wednesday gave the Philippines a historic thumbs up, rating the economy “investment grade” for the first time ever. There is no spoiling this development. It is good news. Our leaders deserve credit as well as some basking in the limelight. By leaders though, it’s important to stress that this refers to both…

As we commemorate Christ’s suffering this Holy Week, I am led to revisit anecdotes I have written in past articles on the wisdom one can find by talking to those who suffer the most from our society’s inequities. Through the years, I have found some of the richest insights in conversations with common folk expressing…

Monetary officials still see no immediate inflation threat The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas on Thursday slashed the interest rate on special deposit accounts to help curb the appreciation of the peso.

DAVOS — The World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos has lost some of its pre-crisis panache. After all, before the meltdown in 2008, the captains of finance and industry could trumpet the virtues of globalization, technology, and financial liberalization, which supposedly heralded a new era of relentless growth. The benefits would be shared by…

– by Mike Manuel, Sun Life Chief Investment Officer for Asia http://twitpic.com/c12sob

NEW YORK — A country’s economic success depends on the education, skills, and health of its population. When its young people are healthy and well educated, they can find gainful employment, achieve dignity, and succeed in adjusting to the fluctuations of the global labor market. Businesses invest more, knowing that their workers will be productive.…

VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI urged world leaders on Monday to try to reduce the growing gap between the rich and the poor in regions such as Europe as they reform their economies.

IN ADVANCE of the arrival of James Robinson (Harvard), coauthor with Daren Acemoglu (MIT) of “Why Nations Fail,” the World Bank sent me a copy of this bestseller. And I am in good company—with Michael Spence, 2001 Nobel Laureate in economics—when I say that it is a book that is hard to put down once…

MANILA, Philippines – They say it’s more fun in the Philippines. But according to United States pollster Gallup, the Philippines is also the world’s most emotional nation – which means that Filipinos feel the most in a slew of emotions such as pain, happiness and anger.

VANCOUVER — Women taking some occupations with potentially high exposures to carcinogens and endocrine disruptors have higher risks of developing breast cancer, showed a new study by Canadian scientists.

The rising preference for Philippine sovereign liabilities reflects improved perceptions of risk, absence of liquidity pressures and low inflation, according to the latest comment of credit rating agency Moody’s Investors Service.

It’s a 2012 campaign mantra: On Day One, the new president will reboot the economy by spurring businesses to grow and thrive. Both mainstream candidates have vowed to achieve this, in part by eliminating onerous regulations to “unleash” the long-suppressed power of American industry.

MANILA, Philippines – More than 50% of local government units nationwide are controlled by political dynasties, a political analyst said Tuesday. Professor Prospero de Vera of the University of the Philippines National College of Public Administration and Governance (UP NCPAG) said dynasties are more pronounced at the local level than at the national level since…

It’s more fun in the Philippines? A recent global study suggests otherwise, at least for people who have to live there. The country has a reputation as a happy place with friendly people, but the 2012 World Happiness Report ranks the country among the least happy, or 103rd out of 155 surveyed countries worldwide. The…

MANILA, Philippines – Step aside economic powerhouses of the past, and get ready to share the spotlight. In a special report, business news site Market Watch christened the Philippines and Indonesia as “the new tigers” or economies that have been overlooked in the past and are now “poised to drive future growth and grab more…

INTERNATIONAL TRADE UNION CONFEDERATION ITUC OnLine ITUC’s reaction to the World Bank’s report on jobs Brussels, 02 October 2012 (ITUC OnLine): Responding to the launch today of the World Bank’s World Development Report 2013, devoted to the theme of “Jobs”, ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow welcomed the publication as recognition by the world’s largest development…

“To promote the well-being of mankind throughout the world” and “to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding”. Two bold visions from two men who wanted to use their vast wealth to do good.

A new United Nations report urges governments to use fiscal and labor market policies to reduce income inequality, maintaining that this not only leads to social benefits but will spur economic growth and development. Produced by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the Trade and Development Report 2012 says that recent experience, especially…

MANILA, Philippines – Twenty years after the Philippines signed the Asean Free Trade Area (AFTA) agreement, the country may still not be ready to join the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by 2015.