Philippine Trade Union Profile By Carlos Antonio Q. Anonuevo Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Philippine Office 12 July 2000 About Us Core Themes Activities Publications Online Materials FES Dialogue on Globalization FES International Policy Analysis Unit FES Journal ­International Politics and Society The Philippine labor movement has a long history of intense struggle against colonialism and dictatorship and more recently against the onslaught of neo-liberalism. It has a fractious evolution and its history has galvanized a very vibrant labor movement while at the same time creating a social player that has been under constant pressure from divisive and legalistic labor laws, employer militancy, and political-economic restructuring. Much of its trade union structure is anchored in the labor relations framework since enterprise unionism and bargaining is the cornerstone of the system. Bargaining representation is subject to elections every five(5) years fanning an intense competition among unions. A quasi-judicial court handles most of the labor cases but conciliation-mediation and compulsory arbitration are used extensively. The right to strike has major limitations in requirements and administration. The public sector has the right to organize but the bargaining right is severely limited and there is no right to strike. Minimum wage setting is done at the regional level while national labor standards provide basic protection for the workers. However, these standards have a violation rate for the past ten(10) years of 45% to 55% among the surveyed establishment. The big majority of the workers are employed in difficult to unionize small and medium size enterprises thus depriving them of union and CBA coverage. Additionally the big service sector where labor flexibility abounds and the agricultural sector that is largely informal and family based already narrows the organizable base of the unions. However, this has led to creative organizing approaches for unions in reaching out to those that are not covered by formal employment and collective bargaining agreements(CBAs). Tripartism exists in many facets of industrial relations and interest representation. The state-managed pension fund has a tripartite commission and the provident funds, the regional wage boards, the quasi-judicial court, and the national industrial peace council are composed of the three players in industrial relations. The industrial relations system, the politics, the economic transformation, the internal organizational dynamics and competition have all combined to result in the creation of 9 national labor centers, 166 general and industry federations, 7 public sector federations, and some 9,169 registered firm-level unions. While the Filipino workers are known for their militancy and activism in socio-political­economic issues, the unionization rate is still small. Data( as of first quarter 2000) from the Labor ministry indicate that private sector union’s total claim of membership is 3.742 million, which is about 11% of the labor force or 26% of the wage-salary earners. However, other data show a variance in captured constituency. To measure it through collective bargaining agreements, only 518,000 workers( 3.6% of wage & salary earners/1.5% of the labor force) are covered. Based on projections to include non-registered CBAs, the labor ministry still pegs the numbers below 1 million. At the same time, of the 1.5 million public sector employees, only 160,000 are counted