While the Philippine labor movement became stronger under repressive conditions during the Marcos dictatorship, it has weakened considerably in recent decades despite Constitutional and legal guarantees to workers’ rights to unionize and organize. Some scholars attribute this decline in strength to the spread of contractual labor. This article contributes to understanding the labor movement’s decline by examining the challenges that contractualization poses to contractuals’ unionization. Using a case study method and in-depth interviews with union leaders, this article examines the barriers to contractuals’ unionization in six manufacturing companies during the height of the Rodrigo Duterte government’s actions against illegal contractualization. It builds on labor scholar Frederic Deyo’s insight that economic controls on labor have overtaken political ones under neoliberal globalization in Southeast Asia and argues that with regard to contractuals’ unionization, legal barriers predominate, economic barriers exist, and political barriers persist.
Purchase
Buy instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Institutional Login
Log in with Open Athens, Shibboleth, or your institutional credentials
Personal login
Log in with your brill.com account
Abao, Carmel V. 2018. “Trade unions: ‘free’ but weak.” In Routledge Handbook of the Contemporary Philippines. Edited by Mark R. Thompson and Eric Vincent C. Batalla. London and New York: Routledge, 405–417.
Aganon, Marie, Serrano, Melisa R. and Certeza, Ramon A. 2009. Union Revitalization and Social Movement Unionism in the Philippines: A Handbook. Philippines: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and UP School of Labor and Industrial Relations.
Ambrosio, Dante L. 1994. “Militanteng kilusang manggagawa sa Kamaynilaan: 1972–1982 paghupa, pag-ahon, pag-agos.” In Ang Kilusang Masa sa Kasaysayang Pilipino (1900–1992). Edited by Jaime B. Veneracion. Quezon City: University of the Philippines College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, 147–192.
Arago, Daisy. 2017. “Fighting the giant and scoring victories: the struggle of workers at NXP Semiconductors in the Philippines.” In: Resistance on the Continent of Labor: Strategies and Initiatives of Labor Organizing in Asia. Edited by Fahmi Panimbang. Hong Kong: Asia Monitor Resource Center, 171–196.
Asa, Renato C. Labor rights under legal and illegal contractualization in the Philippines: Strikes in six manufacturing companies, 2018–2019. MA Thesis, Mahidol University, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand, 2022.
Battad, E. (Leo) D. 2019. “Precarious employment in a globalized world: case of non-regular employees in the Philippines.” Journal of Human Rights and Peace Studies 5(2): 229–261.
Bello, Walden. 2017. “Rodrigo Duterte: A fascist original.” In A Duterte Reader: Critical Essays on Rodrigo Duterte’s Early Presidency. Edited by Nicole Curato. Quezon City: Bughaw, 77–91.
Blatter, Joachim K. 2008. “Case study.” In The SAGE Encyclopedia of Qualitative Research Methods, Volumes 1 and 2. Edited by Lisa M. Given. California: SAGE Publications, Inc., 68–71.
Brown, Wendy. 2015. Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism’s Stealth Revolution. New York: Zone Books.
Bureau of Labor Relations. 2020. 2019 Labor Organization Statistics. Retrieved March 20, 2023 from https://blr.dole.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/2019-Labor-Org.-Statistics-Landscape-final.pdf.
Chang, Dae-oup. 2009. “Informalising labour in Asia’s global factory.” Journal of Contemporary Asia 39(2), May: 161–179.
Chang, Dae-oup. 2015. “From global factory to continent of labour: Labour and development in Asia.” Asian Labour Review 1: 1–48.
Cristobal, Mely Anne Emerie A. and Resurreccion, Efren II R. 2014. “De-confusing contractualization: defining employees engaged in precarious work in the Philippines.” Philippine Law Journal 88(343): 342–374.
Dahlum, Sirianne, Knutsen, Carl Henrik and Wig, Tore. 2019. “Who revolts? Empirically revisiting the social origins of democracy.” The Journal of Politics 81(4): 1494–1499.
Dean, Jodi. 2016. “Review of Wendy Brown. Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism’s Stealth Revolution. New York: Zone Books, 2015.” Critical Inquiry 42(4): 979–982.
Department of Labor and Employment. 2017. Decent Work Country Diagnostics: Philippines 2017. Manila, Philippines: ILO Country Office for the Philippines. Retrieved March 20, 2023 from https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---asia/---ro-bangkok/---ilo-manila/documents/publication/wcms_588875.pdf.
Deyo, Frederic. 1997. “Labour and industrial restructuring in south-east Asia.” In The Political Economy of South-East Asia. Edited by Garry Rodan, Kevin Hewison, and Richard Robison. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 205–224.
Ecumenical Institute for Labor Education and Research. 2000. Labor Flexibilization and Imperialist Crisis: Intensifying Exploitation, Dismantling Job Security, Liquidating Unions. Retrieved March 20, 2023 from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337167711_Labor_Flexibilization_and_Imperialist_Crisis.
Edralin, Divina M. 2014. “Precarious work undermines decent work: The unionized hotel workers’ experience.” DLSU Business & Economics Review 24(1): 13–26.
Erickson, Christopher L., Kuruvilla, Sarosh, Ofreneo, Rene E. and Ortiz, Maria Asuncion. 2003. “From core to periphery? Recent developments in employment relations in the Philippines.” Industrial Relations 42(3), July: 368–395.
Fajarda, Jayson. 2019. “Terms of employment: understanding the vocabulary of precarity in the labor policy of the Duterte administration.” Unpublished paper presented at the SEASIA Biennial Conference, 02–03 December, Taipei, Taiwan.
Guillermo, Ramon G. 2022. “Kritika ng kritika ng post-kolonyalismo: Ang abstraktong unibersalismo ni Vivek Chibber.” Akda: The Asian Journal of Literature, Culture, Performance 2(1), April: 67–78.
Hadiz, Vedi R. 2001. “Globalization, labour and economic crisis: Insights from Southeast Asia.” Asian Business & Management 1: 249–266.
Hutchison, Jane. 2011. “Labour politics in Southeast Asia: The Philippines in comparative perspective.” In Routledge Handbook of Southeast Asian Politics. Edited by Richard Robison. London and New York: Routledge, 40–52.
Hutchison, Jane. 2016. “The state and employment relations in the Philippines.” Journal of Industrial Relations 58(2): 183–198.
Ibon Foundation. 2017a. “A neoliberal policy.” Ibon Facts and Figures, July, 40(7): 2–3.
Ibon Foundation, 2017b. “A failed promise.” Ibon Facts and Figures, July, 40(7): 5–7.
Ibon Foundation. “Be bold enough to implement a meaningful wage hike, gov’t told.” Ibon, November 7, 2018. Retrieved March 20, 2023 from https://www.ibon.org/be-bold-enough-to-implement-a-meaningful-wage-hike-govt-told/.
Kalleberg, Arne L. and Hewison, Kevin. 2013. “Precarious work and the challenge for Asia.” American Behavioral Scientist 57(3): 271–288.
Lee, Hwok-Aun and Ofreneo, Rene E. 2014. “From Asian to Global Financial Crisis: Recovery amidst expanding labor precarity.” Journal of Contemporary Asia 44(4): 688–710.
Marasigan, Mary Leian C. and Serrano, Melisa R. 2014. “Philippines.” In Between Flexibility and Security: The Rise of Non-standard Employment in Selected ASEAN Countries. Edited by Melisa R. Serrano. Jakarta, Indonesia: ASEAN Services Employees Trade Unions Council, 71–102.
Marasigan, Teo S. 2020. “Foreign powers, political elites, and ruling regimes enabled Duterte’s rise to power.” FORSEA: Forces of Renewal Southeast Asia. August 22, 2020. Retrieved March 23, 2023 from https://forsea.co/foreign-powers-political-elites-and-ruling-regimes-enabled-dutertes-rise-to-power/.
Mau, Soren. 2023. Mute Compulsion: A Marxist Theory of the Economic Power of Capital. London and New York: Verso.
Meiksins-Wood, Ellen. 2020. “Democracy.” In The Marx Revival: Key Concepts and New Interpretations. Edited by Marcello Musto. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Moratilla, Noel Christian A. 2019. “Occluded histories: Philippine labor after Edsa.” Philippine Political Science Journal 40(1–2): 3–31.
Morgan, David L. 2008. “Sampling.” In The SAGE Encyclopedia of Qualitative Research Methods, Volumes 1 and 2. Edited by Lisa M. Given. California: SAGE Publications, Inc., 799–800.
Nagkaisa. 2016. “Bello fools workers – Nagkaisa.” Nagkaisa, November 24, 2016. Retrieved March 23, 2023 from https://www.nagkaisa.org/2016/11/bello-fools-workers-nagkaisa.html.
Ofreneo, Rene E. 2013. “Precarious Philippines: expanding informal sector, ‘flexibilizing’ labor market.” American Behavioral Scientist 57(4): 420–443.
Ofreneo, Rene E. 2015. “Growth and employment in de-industrializing Philippines.” Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy 20(1): 111–129.
Panao, Rogelio Alicor L. and De Leon, Bea Xandra. 2018. “Balancing the interests of labor and capital: an empirical analysis of Philippine Supreme Court labor cases from 1987 to 2016.” Philippine Political Science Journal 39(1): 1–23.
Ramos, Charmaine G. 2021. “The return of strongman rule in the Philippines: Neoliberal roots and developmental implications.” Geoforum, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2021.04.001:1-10.
Rueschemeyer, Dietrich, Stephens, Evelyne Huber and Stephens, John D. 1993. Capitalist Development and Democracy. Chicago: Chicago of University Press.
Schober, Elisabeth. 2019. “Precarity, by comparison: The uncertain transnationalization of labor politics between Korea and the Philippines.” Dialectical Anthropology 43(1): 45–60.
Serrano, Melisa R. 2014. “Non-standard employment in ASEAN: Commonalities, varieties and union strategies.” In Between Flexibility and Security: The Rise of Non-standard Employment in Selected ASEAN Countries. Edited by Melisa R. Serrano. Jakarta: ASEAN Services Employees Trade Unions Council, 167–185.
Silarde, Vincent Q. 2020. “Historical roots and prospects of ending precarious employment in the Philippines.” Journal of Labor and Society 23(4): 1–24.
Siwa, Jane Alexandra and Viliran, Jessica. 2016. “Taming class conflict? Industrial peace and workers’ resistance in the Philippines, 2001–2016.” Philippine Sociological Review 64 Special Issue: Sociology of Peace and Conflict: 41–72.
Sy, Criselda. Interview on Market Edge. 2022. Interviewed by Cathy Yap-Yang. ABS-CBN News ANC, June 14, 2022. Retrieved March 20, 2023 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Wcd3wvzHoo.
Tadiar, Neferti Xina M. 2004. “Sexual economies.” In Fantasy-production: Sexual Economies and Other Philippine Consequences for the New World Order. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
Tan, Lara. 2018. “Striking workers at NutriAsia, supporters dispersed and arrested despite regularization order.” CNN Philippines, July 31, 2018. Retrieved March 20, 2023 from https://www.cnnphilippines.com/news/2018/07/31/NutriAsia-workers-violent-dispersal-strike-contractualization-DOLE-regularization.html.
Tolentino, Maria Catalina M. 2018. “Contractualization: will it ever end?” Philippine Journal of Labor and Industrial Relations 35: 156–165.
Torres-Yu, Rosario. 2003. Welgang Bayan: Empowering Labor Unions Against Poverty and Repression. Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press.
Venzon, Cliff. 2018. “Duterte inspires wave of worker activism in Philippines.” NikkeiAsia, October 23, 2018. Retrieved March 20, 2023 from https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Asia-Insight/Duterte-inspires-wave-of-worker-activism-in-Philippines.
Velasco, Benjamin B. 2018. “Union renewal and the outsourcing dispute at Philippine Airlines.” Philippine Journal of Labor and Industrial Relations 35: 166–187.
Viajar, Verna Dinah Q. 2009. “Implications of economic globalization on labor market policies: A comparative study of the Philippines and Indonesia.” Philippine Political Science Journal 30(53): 89–122.
All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Abstract Views | 733 | 733 | 58 |
Full Text Views | 42 | 42 | 3 |
PDF Views & Downloads | 122 | 122 | 7 |
While the Philippine labor movement became stronger under repressive conditions during the Marcos dictatorship, it has weakened considerably in recent decades despite Constitutional and legal guarantees to workers’ rights to unionize and organize. Some scholars attribute this decline in strength to the spread of contractual labor. This article contributes to understanding the labor movement’s decline by examining the challenges that contractualization poses to contractuals’ unionization. Using a case study method and in-depth interviews with union leaders, this article examines the barriers to contractuals’ unionization in six manufacturing companies during the height of the Rodrigo Duterte government’s actions against illegal contractualization. It builds on labor scholar Frederic Deyo’s insight that economic controls on labor have overtaken political ones under neoliberal globalization in Southeast Asia and argues that with regard to contractuals’ unionization, legal barriers predominate, economic barriers exist, and political barriers persist.
All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Abstract Views | 733 | 733 | 58 |
Full Text Views | 42 | 42 | 3 |
PDF Views & Downloads | 122 | 122 | 7 |