IT only took one wrong post in an online chat room to create the first-ever labor union in the business-process outsourcing (BPO) sector.
Unified Employees of Alorica (UEA) President Sarah Prestoza recounted how their labor union started as a small personal group in Facebook four years ago.
At that time, she said the Facebook group was just a venue where she and 10 other colleagues exchanged concerns about the looming takeover of their then employer, West Contact Services Inc. (WCSI), by Alorica Philippines Inc. (API).
“We were warned by some of our colleagues who left Alorica before transferring to our company about the exploitative treatment of their previous employer,” Prestoza told the BusinessMirror in an interview.
With this in mind, she said they were already considering forming a union to protect the labor rights of the employees of WCSI.
“We decided to inquire [with] the BLR [Bureau of Labor Relations] through a letter [about] how to form a union,” Prestoza said. “But I made the mistake of posting it in the wall of our groups instead of within our chat room.”
After just 24 hours of being posted online, she said the letter was shared multiple times and raised their membership from 11 to more than a thousand.
“That was when we decided to finally push through with the creation of our union,” Prestoza said.
Social media
IN mid-April, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) also recorded its first-ever labor union affiliate formed through a social-media organization.
The country’s largest labor group noted how Cebu Pacific airline’s over 1,200 crew organized using a secret Facebook and Viber group.
TUCP Vice President Louie Corral recalled how social media played a crucial role in the formation of the labor union since they could not do it via conventional means.
“The nature of the job was such they cannot be together in one place at one time. The nature of their job was [such that] to congregate them in one place would have subjected them to immediate retaliation from management,” Corral said.
He noted that, while nothing will replace traditional face-to-face organizing as practiced by seasoned labor leaders, social media serves a new avenue to increase union membership in the country, especially among the youth.
“You have to combine the old way of organizing which is through cell groups entering into communities identifying strategic industries with the new,” Corral said.
Currently, he said, the use of technology among labor unions remains limited due to the lack of training and orientation on its use among their members. This, however, he said, is now slowly changing as more unions maximize the technology in their operations.
Modern forms
Much has been written about the possible impact of new technology to existing employment opportunities in the future, but there is still little available information on its potential application for regulation and organization of workers.
Both Alorica and Cebu Pacific’s unions were an example of the increasing role of new technology, specifically of social media, in improving the organization of the labor movement.
No less than the United Nations (UN) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) recognized the importance of utilizing technological developments to achieve a “human-centered” development during its international Centennial celebration earlier this month.
“The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development puts people and planet at its center and embraces three dimensions of sustainability—economic, social and environmental—to tackle changes and challenges, including in the world of work and its future,” Ola Almgren, United Nations resident coordinator, had said in a speech.
“We cannot predict the future of work, but with our combined capacities, we can unite to ensure an inclusive future that leaves no one behind through decent work,” he added.
The Philippines was among the 24 countries tapped to showcase its culture as well as achievements in the world of work.
The country presented its gains on the field of fair migration, value chain, and a specific emphasis on labor unionism and collective bargaining—one of the cornerstones of ILO’s tripartism.
Slow union growth, casualization
THE ILO noted that labor union density in the Philippines, like that in most countries, has been stagnating in previous years.
Union membership growth in the private sector remains slow, rising only by 15 percent over a nine-year period, from 1.3 million in 2008 to 1.5 million in 2017, according to a BLR report.
For the public sector, the increase was significantly higher in the last decade compared to its private counterpart.
“Union membership [in the public sector] increased by 24 percent from about 364,000 in 2008 to 450,686 in 2017,” BLR said.
ILO Labor Standards and Labor Law Specialist Jajoon Coue said a key factor in the slow growth rate in union membership is the global proliferation of “new forms of employment” leading to the “casualization” of work, wherein the direct employer of a laborer cannot be immediately determined.
Consequently, employees under such arrangement would usually have no clear access to labor rights.
“It goes by different terms and shapes in each country: outsourcing, subcontracting. We call it the phenomenon of casualization,” Coue told the BusinessMirror in an interview. “It is especially pronounced in the Philippines; but it is hardly confined in the Philippines alone.”
Development goals
THE ILO emphasized that addressing widespread precarious work lies in strengthening the presence of workers during policy discussion in the form of labor unions.
“If you establish a social dialogue mechanism, then you could immediately get the pulse of the stakeholders. This is important for an organization like ILO if it wants to be relevant,” ILO SafeYouth@Work Programme Coordinator Katherine Brimon said in an interview.
The ILO is the only arm of the UN that is tripartite in nature; meaning, it functions by building consensus among government, employer and labor representatives.
Out of the 189 ILO Conventions—legally binding international treaties that may be ratified by member-states—eight are considered fundamental conventions.
Included in the so-called eight core conventions is Convention 87 or the Convention on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize and Convention 98 or the Convention on the Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining Agreement.
The Philippines is included among the countries that have ratified all of the said core conventions.
Here in the Philippines, the ILO coordinated with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the European Union (EU) for the creation of the National Action Plan on Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining (FoACB).
The 15-page document contained the 2017 to 2022 road map for the country to create an atmosphere conducive to labor unions.
Among its goals is the better monitoring of labor cases filed before international bodies and information-gathering related to complaints, ensuring that government and uniformed personnel respect labor rights.
Also included in its recommendations is the legislative reform on removing the 20-percent membership requirement for union registration; and the reduction from 30 percent to 10 percent of the membership requirement for government to organize.
This is part of the country’s compliance with the Sustainable Development Goal of the UN, particularly its indicator 8.8.2 referring to the level of national compliance with labor rights as freedom of association and collective bargaining.
“Fundamental principles and rights at work comprising international labor standard are at the heart of ILO’s work since 1919. Freedom of association and collective bargaining are core ILO values,” ILO Country Office for the Philippines Director Khalid Hassan said in his speech for the ILO Centennial celebration.
Empowerment solutions
Unfortunately, Coue noted that organizing contractual workers is particularly challenging since they tend to be assigned to different employers on short-term basis.
“Precarious groups of workers often work under short-term contracts so it’s also harder for them to organize,” Coue said.
It is on this front, ILO said, that new technology could be helpful.
As earlier mentioned by UEA and TUCP, the Federation of Free Workers (FFW) also believes social media is a great way to link workers.
“When we build chat groups in [FB] messenger or in Viber we are able to quickly resolve questions and issues related to unionism and concerned companies,” FFW Vice President Julius Cainglet said.
“In organizing [workers], everything happens so fast, which would entail quick decisions and quick actions. This is facilitated by communication and information technology,” he added.
This is also true for the public sector, which has fewer union members than the private sector.
“It provides us more efficient communication and use of resources when disseminating information for our activities, invitations, or meetings,” Public Services Labor Independent Confederation (PSLINK) Advocacy Head Jillian Roque said.
New technology, multiemployer bargaining
ROQUE said new technology could pave the way toward their much aspired for sectoral or multiemployer bargaining especially in the public sector. Under a sectoral or multiemployer bargaining scheme, labor unions will collectively bargain with multiple companies.
Compared to the usual per company bargaining, the scheme is more inclusive since it will cover even nonunion members including contractual workers in a specific sector.
Despite its apparent advantages, multiemployer bargaining is still not being practiced in the Philippines.
DOLE’s Institute for Labor Studies (ILS) has an ongoing study for the creation of a possible framework for such work arrangement.
In her preliminary paper on the topic, ILS researcher Joyce Lumuctud affirmed Roque’s pronouncement on the benefits of the multiemployer bargaining.
However, she also extensively discussed existing restrictions for its potential implementation like lack of information on it from stakeholders; the varied financial situation of establishments in the country, which are 89.53 percent comprised by micro and small enterprises; and the proliferation of nonstandard forms of employment.
Yet another limiting factor, Lumuctud said, is that only workers who are union members may avail themselves of this arrangement. Employer action against labor organizing remains another hindrance.
Finally, one of the major roadblocks for its implementation is the voluntary nature of multiemployer bargaining.
“Employers may simply refuse to be covered by multiemployer CBAs,” Lumuctud said.
Even with these restrictions, however, Lumuctud said some labor unions such as the National Union of Bank Employees (Nube) have engaged in multiemployer bargaining.
She said the Nube was able to sign a memorandum of agreement, which resulted in an encompassing collective bargaining agreement for employees of the parent and subsidiary companies of Banco de Oro.
“The benefits that they gained from this agreement included standardized wages and benefits, which could pave the way for industry-wide bargaining that, as studies show, correlates with higher collective bargaining coverage,” Lumuctud said. “It can take out the factor of wages and benefits competition among firms.”
Improved compliance
BEYOND fostering closer ties among workers, social media also has the potential of boosting data gathering for labor regulators.
ILO Labor Law Compliance System Project Manager Cerilyn Pastolero said social media and a strong labor presence will be an important tool for workplace inspection initiatives.
Pastolero noted that the Philippines is a “trailblazer” in terms of labor inspection due to its mandatory participation of workers. She believes engaging workers in labor inspection results in better compliance rates by establishments with general labor standards (GLS), as well as occupational safety and health standards (OSHS).
“For the Philippines, there is improvement in compliance, but the challenge is sustaining compliance,” Pastolera said. “How do you ensure enterprises will continue to be compliant after the inspection? This is where labor unions [come in].”
Data obtained by the BusinessMirror from the Bureau of Working Conditions (BWC) showed improving GLS and OSHS compliance for local establishments in the four years.
In 2015, compliance rates of local establishments for GLS ranged from 79.38 percent to 92.83 percent. For OSHS, it ranged from 75 percent to 96.90 percent.
As of 2018, GLS compliance rates were at 86.07 percent to 95.66 percent, while OSHS have compliance rates ranging from 83.22 percent to 98.22 percent.
Pastolera noted how labor unions could now easily report possible GLS and OSH violations by taking pictures through mobile phones; thus ensuring consistent compliance from their employers.
“Some unions are already doing that. Some of them even have a web site for it where they have a running counter for complaints that they receive, and then they refer that to DOLE,” she said.
Pastolera explained the uploaded complaints will be valuable for DOLE, especially since the government agency has a shortage of labor inspectors and thus relies on “targeted” inspections.
Currently, the labor department has around 800 labor inspectors tasked to regularly inspect over 900,000 establishments nationwide.
Labor migration
ILO Fair Recruitment Program National Project Coordinator Hussein Macarambon said they are now also considering tapping the same reporting mechanism for the protection of vulnerable overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
His project focuses on ensuring household service workers (HSWs) bound for Hong Kong are not charged any fees by their recruiters.
The goal of his program is particularly challenging since it deals with legal jurisdiction issues of both Hong Kong and the Philippines.
Further complicating the matter, he said, is the nature of HSW employment, which is confined within the homes of employers.
“The challenge is, how do you monitor compliance at the household level, where inspection will be very hard to conduct? I think this is where new technology, particularly mobile phones, will play a key role,” Macarambon said.
To address this, he said they are currently coordinating with Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA) to tap its Migrants Rights Violation Reporting System (MRVRS).
“It can be seen as an application, where they [HSWs] could report abuses and even give positive feedback on employer,” Macarambon said.
Leveraging agreements
IN furthering ILO’s cause on fair recruitment, Macarambon said, they are also negotiating for the support of employers in Hong Kong.
“The funny thing is, the employers of household service workers are union members themselves like the teachers and flight attendants,” Macarambon said. “That is why it should be easy for them to realize and appreciate the concept of fair [recruitment].”
With pressure from both Hong Kong employers and labor groups, he said, they hope recruiters would finally opt not to charge any fees on the HSWs they process.
Cainglet noted they also have similar attempts to use the same kind of pressure to compel multinational companies to respect labor rights through international framework agreements forged by the global labor groups they are affiliated with.
The FFW is a member of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and the Building Wood Worker’s International (BWI), which have such international framework agreements.
“This is especially true for BWI, which has several international framework agreements with the construction-related companies like Holcim,” Cainglet said.
The labor leader said such agreements work just like international treaties, which they could effectively use during CBA negotiations.
“We are able to use it as leverage when we talk to the local counterparts [of the multinational firms],” Cainglet said.
However, he admitted this scheme is still underutilized by local labor groups due to the operational costs it entails since its negotiations are held at the international level.
Cainglet said the scheme is fairly new, only becoming available in the last five to six year ago as global consumers demand for more accountability from multinational firms.
Advocating change
Brimon said more and more countries are now putting premium on the adherence of multinational companies to international laws, particularly human and labor rights, as well as environment protection.
More so, she said, as more production becomes more globalized, wherein products are now being made in multiple countries, raising new decent work concerns.
This is the reason, she said, ILO has put up an entire unit to focus on value chain analysis.
The former labor assistant secretary explained how the ILO unit analyzes the stages of how a product is manufactured focusing on its labor aspect.
“We cannot just look at a sector wholesale,” Brimon said.
In the Philippines, the ILO currently has an existing partnership with EU specifically to measure the impact of international trade agreements to quality employment.
She said this is another aspect of labor rights promotion improved by new technology.
In determining this, she pointed out they need accurate data on several labor indicators minimum wage, female participation in the labor market and compliance to standards.
“Technology will always be helpful in providing real-time information and helping in analytics,” Brimon said.
To note, EU uses its Generalized Scheme of Preference (GSP), wherein it gives certain trade benefits to countries that comply with international laws.
The Philippines is one of the beneficiaries of the GSP.
Brimon noted this is one of the reasons the EU is helping the country improve its labor law compliance, specifically on Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining on Trade Employment (FOACB).
Aside from the FoACB, the initiative resulted in the review of the mechanism on worker liberties and trade union rights; checklist for small enterprises on their compliance with labor standards; training manual of freedom of association and labor rights; DOLE e-Learning course on labor rights and standards; and a tool kit for employers to determine how many jobs will be created and destroyed by a given trade policy.
Hassan said they hope the new instruments will help the country be on track of its labor standards-related target in the coming year.
“These tools will help ensure a coherent policy framework to generate and upgrade and employment,” Hassan said.
“All actors—including governments, workers, employers and multilateral institutions—will have a role to play,” he added. “We are not advocating an overnight change. This will take time.”
Image credits: Nonie Reyes