The Philippines

The three partner organizations – two trade unions (KMU, AHW) and one youth organisation (YCW) – will promote better labour rights, decent wages and access to social protection for their respective target groups: precarious workers in the private sector (MNC’s, EPZ’s, SME’s), health workers in the public and private sector, young workers in the formal and informal economy. Through capacity building, organizing, training and awareness raising of these groups the organisations will strive for 42.500 Philippino workers to obtain a more decent job by the end of 2021. The focus of the interventions will be on ending contractualization of workers and privatization of public hospitals, promoting qualitative health care and better working conditions in the health sector,  reform of the minimum wage system. Together the three organizations are part of the platform All Workers’ Unity that is campaigning for higher minimum wages in the public and private sector and for the abolishment of contractual work, potentially to the benefit of 30,5 million workers by 2021. The platform will be supported through the national synergy action.

• Alliance of Health Workers (AHW): AHW is an alliance of labour unions in the health sector in the Philippines, representing more than 27.000 workers (doctors, nurses, other personnel in health facilities) in mainly public but also private hospitals and medical centers in Manila and throughout other parts of the country. Since 1984, AHW stood at the forefront in the struggle for better labour rights, decent wages and access to social protection for health workers in the Philippines. The organisation has also been promoting the right of every Philippino – particularly the poor and disadvantaged – to quality health care. The focus of their actions is on unionizing and organizing the staff in the medical facilities, raising awareness of the general public and the health workers on the need for  quality  health  care  for  all  Philippino’s, negotiating better working conditions with  the hospital management, opposing the use of short term labour contracts for health workers, fighting privatization of public hospitals.

• Young Christian Workers of the Philippines (YCW Philippines): YCW Philippines is a youth organization, part of the International Young Christian Workers’ movement, that is organizing young vulnerable workers in precarious working and living conditions in different regions of the Philippines. Through reflecting upon and analyzing the living situations of the young workers and by raising their awareness on the mechanisms that lead  to  inequality, exclusion, poverty  and  discrimination in  today’s society,  YCW  calls  the youngsters to action to take up responsibility for other vulnerable young people and to bring about social change (see-judge-act). YCW Philippines currently represents about 150 young workers in different professions (pedicab drivers, factory workers, sugarcane workers, miners, vendors, working students). The focus of the action plan will be on raising the capacity of the young workers to improve their working conditions and living standards.

• Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU): As  an  independent and  democratic labour  center  KMU  has  been  promoting genuine and militant trade unionism in the Philippines since 1980. The confederation is composed of 9 labour federations in different sectors (industry, service, agricultural workers) and two mass organisations in the  informal economy (transportation workers and urban poor). The current membership is 115.000 workers. KMU has chapters in major regions of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. In  its  action plan KMU will  focus on  organizing workers  in  precarious working conditions, job security as well as on raising awareness and campaigning for restoration of a national minimum wage system and a better social protection.

• The national synergy action supports the three partner organisations in their (existing) joint collaboration within the platform All Workers’ Unity, which is also reuniting other sectors of the civil society (teachers, public sector workers), to fight for a nationwide minimum wage of 16.000 peso per month in the public sector and 750 peso per day in the private sector. The platform will also campaign for the regularization of contractual workers in the Philippines.