Photo by Bong Arboleda (UPSIO).
The University of the Philippines hosted the first Global Labour University Asia Alumni Workshop where international and local labor scholars, trade union leaders and experts gathered at the week-long workshop, which opened on Aug. 8 at the Bonifacio Hall, UP School of Labor and Industrial Relations (UP SOLAIR), Diliman, Quezon City.
The workshop had as its theme, “Confronting Precarious Work in Asia: The Role of Labour Market Institutions and Trade Unions.”
In the workshop rationale, the following was stated, “The current processes of neoliberal economic growth in the Asian region, predicated by free trade and investment agreements and driven by transnational corporations and big businesses, have resulted in the precarization of work. Flexible production systems and workplaces require a flexible workforce. But this flexibility has resulted in the rise of non-standard forms of employment which are largely precarious – insecure jobs, unstable and low incomes, inadequate or lack of social protection, lack of opportunities for skills development and career advancement, and absence of representation and voice. Also, differentiating workers by nature of their employment is a recipe for the further fragmentation of the working class.”
Thus, the workshop saw that “these are critical times for trade unions and other social movements to push for a strong labor and social dimension in the current process of economic development taking place in the Asia-Pacific region. In ASEAN, for example, a recent initiative to push for an Agenda for a Social ASEAN has been taken up by trade unions, labor support organizations, civil society organizations and progressive academics.”
In his welcome note, UP President Alfredo E. Pascual said that “the workshop is well in keeping with UP SOLAIR’s institutional commitment to the empowerment of labor, enlightened industrial relations and social justice.”
“This is also in line with the University’s strategic thrust toward further internationalization, with the full understanding that by aspiring for regional and global competitiveness, UP is able to enhance its capability to serve the country and help it become globally competitive. Indeed, under this thrust toward internationalization, we have pursued and facilitated student and faculty mobility, academic exchanges, and research collaborations and inter-cultural projects with other foreign universities and with international networks such as the GLU,” Pascual added.
UP SOLAIR Dean Ronahlee A. Asuncion focused on social justice, which she further expounded on as being manifested in “decent work, equity and human dignity.” Meanwhile, Dr. Melisa Serrano, UP SOLAIR associate professor, delved on the challenges confronting labor conditions and trade unions, such as “elimination of contractualization, union consolidation against union fragmentation, and organizing workers under non-permanent contract, among others.”
There were four major tracks of the workshop, according to the GLU organizers: 1) global value chains, international trade and investment agreements and the rise of low productivity jobs and precarious work in Asia; 2) the role of labor market institutions and trade unions in wage development and in arresting the rise of precarious employment; 3) the role of minimum wages in economic and social development and the campaign for a national minimum and living wage and social protection for all; and 4) transnational labor migration in the Asia Pacific Region : issues, challenges and strategies in building cross-border solidarities.
The workshop was a collaborative project of the Global Labour University (GLU), University of the Philippines School of Labor and Industrial Relations (UP SOLAIR), University of Kassel (UniKassel), International Center for Development and Decent Work (ICDD), International Labour Organization (ILO), Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES).
For more photos of the event, please click through the album below.
