No Good Jobs in Economy of Permanent Crisis
LEARN Statement on 2026 February LFS
At surface level, the February 2026 Labor Force Survey (LFS) shows an improvement in the labor market compared to January. But yearly observations reveal the declining national performance in supplying quality jobs.
This is a trend that can be observed across the data: Higher employment, lower unemployment, and lower underemployment from January, but all still underperforming compared to February last year.
At best, the data shows an uptick in the labor market. However, closer examination would prove this to be part of the seasonal trends in jobs which we have long observed. Instead, what we see is an overall decrease in the quantity and quality of jobs.
Services dominate the job market at the expense of agriculture and industry — a constant trend for years.
Industry in particular has shrunk from 18.3% to 17.7% since last year, while the agricultural sector bled around 523,000 jobs this year. Both sectors have a key role in ensuring that we build a competitive national economy resistant to economic shocks such as the current oil crisis, Investment in the industrial sector for example could curb the decline in the power of the Philippine Peso by having a larger value capture of global supply chains that we are already part of, while a robust and developed agricultural sector would help ensure food security.
Instead, the year to year comparison shows administrative and support services seeing the biggest increase in employment, including temporary employment and offshore services. We also see greater insecurity in employment because of the temporary nature of work in the sector.
All of these conditions leave us sorely unprepared to face the current worldwide crisis: The ongoing war between US-Israel and Iran could result in major repercussions for the energy sector, with a potential ripple effect across the economy, particularly on the cost of living crisis already biting many. Assurance of the Iranian Government allowing Philippine-bound vessels to pass through the Strait of Hormuz for much-needed fuel will relieve some of these impacts. However, this on its own will not solve all of the pressures we are facing. Beyond quick fixes and dependence on external developments, the Philippine government needs to take strategic steps to ensure economic stability in the face of current and future uncertainties.
It is because of this that LEARN calls for a change in national labor strategy: Shift from market-led interventions to proactive people-centric responses. We reiterate our call for the government to develop and invest in our industry and agriculture sectors for long-term economic security. As the 21st century promises many uncertainties and challenges to the nation, we cannot afford to be nearsighted in industrial policy.
Workers Need a Plan, Not Emergency Powers!
Statement of LEARN on President Marcos Jr.’s Acknowledgement of an Oil Crisis
Almost a month since geopolitical tensions in the Middle East exploded into another war between Iran and the United States and Israel, the Philippine government continues to be sluggish in addressing Filipino’s urgent concerns. As motorists — from the well-off SUV driving middle classes, to the motorcycle riding working masses — began a mad rush to gas stations, the government continued to pretend that everything was normal.
No less than president Marcos Jr. himself repeatedly said for weeks that there was no crisis in our oil supply, until he suddenly declared a “national energy emergency”.
With an unreliable government and rising pressures on the cost of living, it is understandable for Filipinos to respond with a wide range of emotions. One of these is to turn on each other for the perceived unevenness of the government’s relief programs. However, to blame the working poor for “ayuda” or to demand the same for the middle classes misses the point.
The entire nation is struggling, and the precariousness of the “privileged” middle class may be a sign that they share many similarities with the working poor after all. Perhaps the working class is broad enough to include the professional graphic designer, BPO worker, and the tricycle driver. Targeted “ayuda” programs are necessary, but they are insufficient in the absence of a comprehensive package of programs and reforms.
Instead of arguing who deserves assistance more, LEARN believes that the people’s energy is better spent pushing the State for a strategic response to the present crisis. Together with trade unions, social movements, and civil society, we join the call to review the oil deregulation law and improve the government’s ability to directly intervene in economic decision-making. Doing so could provide the government with an important tool for mitigating the pressure caused by supply disruptions and shocks.
As we continue to provide emergency relief to transport workers and low-income households, it is important that we ensure food security by providing subsidies and adequate services to farmers who also face rising fertilizer prices due to the supply shock.
Beyond short-term ayuda programs, we believe that it is time for the government to develop a serious public employment program, and actually take steps to formulate the agro-industrial policy required to generate good, quality jobs. Given our vulnerability to the climate crisis and disruptions to oil supplies, these policies must be geared towards developing and expanding renewable energy sources.
As these short and long-term interventions require funding, the move to suspend excise taxes might do more harm than good. Rather than cut existing funding sources, LEARN argues that a wealth tax for the country’s ultra wealthy would go far in raising the revenues to adequately support state support for all Filipinos.
Finally, the declaration of a national energy emergency is a recognition of the current crisis, but it raises more questions than answers. To declare an emergency without a clear plan invites the possibility of abusing emergency powers. In the wake of the unresolved flood control scandal, it is doubtful if Filipinos can trust the administration with this increased discretion. Furthermore, existing laws and policies already give the government the mandate to implement many of the actions that the emergency declaration calls for. Why then is the declaration necessary?
Whatever national strategies will be developed must be done through a consultative, people-centric approach. Instead of ambiguous announcements of emergency power, we call for the government to convene a national summit with trade unions, civil society, and the business sector. Developing responses with the active participation of the people bearing the brunt of the crisis will help ensure that interventions are relevant to the people’s needs, and accurately reflect our concerns and interests.
Filipinos are Patient, until we Revolt: Commemorating the 40th Anniversary of the EDSA People Power Revolution — SENTRO & LEARN Joint Statement
History is filled with struggles, wars, and revolts against poverty, oppression, and for national liberation, even social revolution. In many of these battles the organized working classes have played a pivotal role in pushing for democracy and wealth redistribution. Because of our bias for justice, fairness, and popular power, we Filipino workers found ourselves part of the 1986 revolution that toppled a dictatorship and restored our formal democratic institutions.
40 years since, it is clear that the fight for democracy and wealth redistribution are far from over. As we commemorate the 40th anniversary of the EDSA People Power Revolution, the Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa (SENTRO) and Labor Education and Research Network (LEARN) calls for us to draw courage from a simple fact of history — Filipinos are patient. But when we snap, we have the power to topple presidents and bring down dynasties.
For two decades, Ferdinand Marcos Sr. and his cronies abused and stole from the people. Yet, his reign could not last forever. Years of organized opposition and the people’s frustration eventually exploded into a popular revolt that gave way to our current democratic order. Yet, the years after 1986 showed both the great lengths and limits of our people’s patience.
Using the excuse of “De-Marcosification” the ruling elites embraced a policy of rampant privatization and the embrace of transnational and multinational corporations. At the same time, political dynasties — both pro and anti-Marcos — tightened their grip over the Philippine archipelago. As a result, Filipinos saw little improvement in our quality of life. Poverty, unemployment, inhumane working conditions, contractualization, unlivable wages, bootlicking of foreigners, failing industries, harassment of organized workers and government critics, and the killings of any who dare speak against the powers that be — these continued to be the state of the nation, even decades under democracy.
With little difference under dictatorship or democracy, it is unsurprising that in a single lifetime we saw two EDSA revolutions (or three, depending on who’s counting), the presidency of the murderous Duterte, and the election of another Ferdinand Marcos as president.
40 years after EDSA, the lesson is clear. Regardless of whoever sits in authority – as long as the system keeps power and wealth concentrated to a select few — very little will change. We must overhaul our political and economic system to ensure that power, ownership, and production are for the benefit of the people, not the elite.
The massive protests during the height of the 2025 flood control scandal shows us that the people’s patience is once again running thin. Whether the movement against corruption will grow into a political force against the system will depend on many of the forces and people commemorating the EDSA revolution today. To ensure that the people’s rage and frustration can feed a politics of transformation, SENTRO and LEARN echo the following political demands:
The end to all political dynasties, so that power can no longer be accumulated by any single family against the detriment of the nation;
The end to corruption in government, through punishment of the corrupt and the assurance that no official could ever steal from public coffers;
The redistribution of wealth, through living wages, the full protection of workers, and the people’s enjoyment of quality public services such as healthcare, accessible education, and affordable housing.
40 years after EDSA I, the struggle for liberation against the ruling elites continues. Let those that profit from the people’s poverty and oppression remember that Filipinos are extremely patient. But that patience has limits.
Imperialist, Reckless, Dangerous: SENTRO-LEARN Joint Statement Condemning the US Abduction of Venezuelan President Maduro
The US empire continues to cast a long shadow over the people of Latin America. Since the Monroe doctrine, to clandestine machinations during the Cold War and beyond, the struggle for liberation in this continent has always been a struggle against both local elites and the United States. In this context, democracy is not just a matter of process, it is a question of substance. Who holds power? The people? A colonial master? Dictators who claim to speak on behalf of their nation? For Latin American workers and social movements, answering this question continues to shape the continent’s history. Today, the brazen acts of US imperialism brings this question to the fore once again.
The Labor Education and Research Network (LEARN) and Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa (SENTRO) strongly condemn the recent abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and the First Lady Cilia Flores by United States forces last night, January 3rd. In attacking the Venezuelan capital and kidnapping its head of state, the United States has dealt a grievous blow not only to the principle of sovereignty and independence. The attack is also a major assault on the rules-based international order. This very order was formed in the wake of two devastating world wars sparked by nations operating on the principle of might makes right. Viewed in this light, the American operation in Caracas is simultaneously an issue of democracy (Trump acted unilaterally without authority from Congress), colonialism, and geopolitical tension.
For LEARN and SENTRO, the impunity with which American officials planned and conducted the abduction of a head of state revives the specter of colonialism that defines the US’ relationship with Latin American countries.
Despite its flaws, the Bolivarian experiment is still an example of state-led development that runs against neoliberal orthodoxy. With Trump saying that the US will “run Venezuela”, we can expect that Washington plans to demolish the public sector and enforce neoliberal policies on the country. This will inevitably give free reign to the private sector, especially transnational US corporations, at the expense of working people.
What has transpired before the world is nothing more than a blatant attempt at regime change to secure the political and economic interests of the US empire.
More dangerously, the American example might encourage other powers to violate the international system governing the behavior of States. If the United States could simply remove a head of state in a county it views as under its sphere of influence, what’s stopping continued Russian aggression in Ukraine? Chinese moves in Taiwan? What does the American example mean for the thousands of political exiles that their emboldened governments might attack? If a sitting president can be arrested by another nation, how much more dissident journalists, unionists, and activists?
It is for this reason that LEARN and SENTRO are greatly worried by the repercussions of this unilateral American action. Despite the obvious failures of multilateral institutions, a retreat from the noble vision of the United Nations is detrimental to democracy, human rights, and the spirit of human solidarity.
For the international trade union movement, the events in Latin American must be viewed with great concern. We must view this as intimately connected with attempts to silence workers and suppress self-determination in Ukraine, Myanmar, and the present maritime tensions in Southeast Asia.
To borrow from Vaclav Havel, when the dignity of workers is crushed in Venezuela, does that violence not echo across borders, striking the dignity of the working class everywhere?
We call on workers, social movements, and all peace-loving peoples to condemn the US action. We also call for the reform of the existing multilateral order to reflect the original vision articulated in the foundation of the United Nations.
Quality, Not Just the Quantity of Jobs: LEARN Statement on the Recent Labor Force Survey
According to recent government statistics, the unemployment rate in the country had dropped from 2.59 million in July to 2.03 million this August. Normally, we would warmly greet a reduction in unemployment. However, given the multitude of issues faced by Filipino workers, including the Philippines being among the top ten worst countries for workers in 2025, we must look at the statistics critically.
Looking at data from August of the previous year, the data points to little to no significant change in the national situation. The numbers haven’t changed since 2022. The overall labor participation rate hovers between 64% and 65% for the past three years, the latest update indicating an upward development. Overall unemployment and underemployment seem to have decreased as well. However, is the overall government policy on employment really delivering good, quality, and secure jobs for Filipinos?
Focusing on youth employment, the data does point to a quantitative increase in jobs. But qualitatively, the quality of available jobs are problematic. Many young people who have just entered the workforce feel that they do not earn enough to sustain themselves and their families, which is illustrated by a higher youth underemployment rate compared to last year.
As trade unions have repeatedly emphasized, chronic underemployment suggests that workers need multiple jobs to survive. This is supported by the fact that minimum wages fall far below the poverty threshold.
With the lack of systemic reforms on industrial relations and worker’s rights, it is highly questionable whether or not there are actual, tangible improvements for working people. Contractualization still remains a rampant practice across industries, leaving workers perpetually vulnerable. Although women’s participation rate has increased, there still exists a 20% gap between them and men. The statistics also do not reflect the additional burden of care work that women do at home, which affects their socioeconomic independence.
To remedy these issues, the government must design a comprehensive industrial and employment policy that would prioritise the wellbeing of the working class. Statistics and numbers may provide a rosy picture of the national situation, but workers’ daily experiences suggest otherwise.
Don’t Antagonize, Organize the People’s Rage: Reflections on the Protests Against Massive Government Corruption of 2025
September 21st, 2025 was a historic day for the Philippines. The 53rd anniversary of Martial Law’s declaration was again met with massive organized protest. But the day was not just about atrocities committed decades ago. The day was historic because people, in our hundreds of thousands, took to the streets to protest our oppression and robbery at the hands of the ruling classes today.
Photo credits: Gon Labudahon
For progressives, trade unionists, and leftists of all colors, it is always a cause of celebration when the people march. Yet as history shows, when the people decide that enough is enough and simmering discontent boils over in the streets, the people’s march is often accompanied by a slew of emotions — including anger. It was this righteous anger, the frustration at a system that normalizes our subordination, that we saw expressed in the throngs of people that mobilized across the country.
For most, indignation against the out-of-touch elites took the form of peaceful demonstrations. For some, rage against the system had to go beyond. We saw hundreds of disgruntled youth engage in direct confrontation with the state. Dissent turned into fury —- streets were occupied, establishments ransacked, and vehicles burnt. Police likewise responded in a brutal manner, arresting hundreds and lashing out even at journalists.
Once again, the contradictory nature of the people in arms has led to intense debate within progressive circles. Some condemned the violence of the mob as acts of hooliganism: directionless rage that hurt the reputation of the current movement against systemic corruption. Others went to the defense of these rioters, likely coming from an affirmation of the people’s spontaneity and the legitimacy of direct action.
For the Labor Education and Research Network (LEARN), what matters less is the “political content” (or the lack thereof) that drove these violent confrontations. Perhaps demanding that these people express their rage through programs and policies is not the point. Neither is it enough to just celebrate spontaneous, unorganized direct action. As trade unionists, we argue that the task of progressive forces is to help provide direction and structure to our legitimate feelings of frustration. This process would inevitably be informed by our own experiences, perspectives, values, and analyses of the social situation.
Photo credits: Gon Labudahon
Of course the people have the right to revolt in ways that make sense to them. But our job as organized forces is to help channel that energy into a politics and program of collective action. We cannot expect this solely from those disgruntled youth that stormed Mendiola. This is the task, historical one could say, of the organized left.
Shouldn’t we be asking how we might put forward a politics that addresses the root causes of the current upheaval? How do we mobilize the people’s fury into demands, even programs for action? Our focus shouldn’t be on what forms of action are legitimate. It should be about appealing to the sensibility, interests, and aspirations of the thousands that marched, and the millions that cheered us on.
Whether we develop a platform for the next elections, or a more general strategy of building people’s power, is a matter of political tactics.
As we go back to the practical work of cultivating the people’s anger, we continue with our immediate demands. We must continue pushing for accountability for the trillions stolen from us. To this end, we should support reforms such as people’s participation in the congressional budget hearings. We also join the calls to release those arrested during the recent upheaval.
There will be destruction as part of creating the new world that we want, especially if the powers that be react with violence. The people, in the moments that they become actors of history, do not always have to make sense. Making sense of the people’s wants and needs, translating feelings into programs and tactics, organizing mass movements — these are the objectives of collective action.
Pahayag tungkol sa Pagtaas ng Unemployment Rate sa 2025
Kaysa maglaan ng bilyones sa programang makakagawa ng nakabubuhay na trabaho, pinasok ito sa ghost projects, ayuda programs, at pagsusugal. Tumaas ng kalahating milyon ang bilang ng Pilipinong unemployed. Habang hirap na hirap ang mga Pilipino suportahan ang pamilya at sarili, mas malulunod pa tayo sa korupsyon ng iba’t ibang opisyales ng ating gobyerno.
Alam natin na hindi ito bago sa atin. Lagi na lang isyu ang unemployment, at takot na takot ang mga manggagawa na mawalan ng trabaho. Taon-taon kinakabahan tayo kung magkakaroon tayo ng sapat na pera para kumain, o kung may trabaho pa tayo. Mas lalong kawawa pa ang kabataang nagnanais ng trabahong nakabubuhay na pagkatapos ng ilang taon ng pag-aaral ay hindi rin nakakakamit ito.
Simple lang ang hinihingi ng mamamayang Pilipino: Disenteng trabaho na may kasiguraduhan.. Matapos ng 3 taon ay hindi pa ito nangyayari o inaaksyunan ng gobyerno.
Matagal nang nakalipas ang oras para idemanda ang nararapat sa atin: Mga programang sasalba sa atin mula sa kahirapan, mula sa kawalan ng seguridad. Isa lang ang “end endo” sa nakararaming mga pangako ng gobyerno na hindi tinutupad. Gawing regular ang mga trabaho! Wakasin na ang kontraktwalisasyon!
Need To Explain? Political Dynasties
Kalakaran ang mga magkakaanak sa pulitika sa Pilipinas. Hindi ito bagong problema, pero sa takbo ng panahon, mas lumalim ang kapit ng iilangangkan sa bansa natin.
Noon, mayroong dalawang antas pa lang ng political dynasty: 1) Thin, ang isa-isa o nagsasalitan na mga magkaanak sa piling posisyon sa gobyerno, at; 2) Fat kung saan iilang miyembro ng pamilya ay nasa iba’t ibang posisyon sa gobyerno. Ayon kina Mendoza, Jaminola, at Yap sa kanilang papel, halimbawa ang Pilipinas ngayon sa mas malalang antas ng political dynasty, ang obese: Higit sa limang miyembro ng pamilya ay sabay-sabay na nakaupo sa gobyerno. Karaniwan sa atin na nasa lokal (probinsya, munisipyo, barangay) ang base ng kapangyarihan ng mga pamilya, at habang tumatagal magkakaroon sila ng mas malaking pagkakataon na makapasok din sila sa mga posisyong pambansa o national.
Paano nakakahamak sa demokrasya ang mga political dynasty?
Naiipon sa apelyido nila ang kapangyarihan at kasangkapan upang maging padron: May kapangyarihan sila mamili kung kanino mapupunta ang mga pampublikong serbisyo, na magdesisyon kung saan ilalaan ang pondo mula sa buwis ng manggagawa’t mamamayan, kung ilalaan ito sa ayuda o sa iba’t-ibang personal na programa.
Sa isang lipunang laganap ang kahirapan at kawalang katiyakan, ang “politikang ayuda” ng mga angkan at trapo ang isa sa kanilang mga instrumento upang manatili sa kapangyarihan. Mauulit-ulit ang kanilang pagiging padron lalo na’t namimigay sila ng pansamantalang tulong o ayuda na may tatak ng angkan nila, kahit galing ito sa kaltas sa sahod natin o sa patong na buwis sa mga bilihin.
Imbis na serbisyo ng gobyerno, pinaparating nila na ito ay mula sa kanilang kabaitan. Halos sinasabi na kung mawala sila sa posisyon, mawawala na rin ang ayuda na sa totoo ay kaltas sa ating buwis. Sa ganitong paraan nawawasak ng politikang ayuda na sanhi ng political dynasties ang demokrasya. Ang pagboto at pagserbisyo ay nauuwi sa sino ang kaya magbigay, hindi kung ano ang laman ng programa ng mga kumakandidato.
Protesta ng SENTRO laban sa Zero Subsidy sa PhilHealth sa ilalim ng 2025 Budget.
Ano pwede natin gawin?
Sa darating na eleksyon, tayo’y bumoto base sa agenda ng manggagawa at ituloy natin ang pagbuo ng ating labor vote. Gamitin natin ang ating lakas bilang kilusan sa pagpapasok ng mga kampeon ng mga karapatan ng manggagawa sa gobyerno. Tayo’y nanaliksik at bumubuo ng mga mungkahing legislasyon para solusyunan ang mababang sahod, ang mataas na inflation, ang kawalan ng seguridad sa trabaho. Siguraduhin nating may makikinig sa boses natin bilang manggagawa, na may mananagot sa ating mga hinaing. Ipanalo natin ang mga kandidatong tutulong ipanalo rin ang ating agenda.
Gayundin, di mawawala ang mga problema natin sa isang eleksyon, o sa paghahanda para sa susunod. Ipatuloy ang gawain sa kilusang paggawa sapagkat nabubuhay ang demokrasya sa aktibong partisipasyon ng mga mamamayan. Ito ay pawang karapatan at tungkulin ng bawat Pilipino. Hindi natatapos ang ambag natin sa bansa sa eleksyon. Alalahanin natin na tayong mga manggagawa at mamamayan ang nagpopondo sa gobyerno, at kailangan nating siguraduhing nagagamit sa tamang paraan ang bunga ng ating marangal na paggawa.
Sanggunian:
Mendoza, Ronald U. and Jaminola, Leonardo and Yap, Jurel, From Fat to Obese: Political Dynasties after the 2019 Midterm Elections (September 1, 2019). ATENEO SCHOOL OF GOVERNMENT WORKING PAPER SERIES, September 2019, 19-013, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3449201 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3449201
Mga artikulo sa litrato:
- Espina-Varona, I. (2022, March 19). Political Dynasties 2022: Whether Red or Pink wins, families rule the regions. RAPPLER. https://www.rappler.com/philippines/elections/overview-political-dynasties-series-2022-polls/
- Fonbuena, A. B., Gab Yanzon, Carmela S. (2024, December 8). 71 of 82 Philippine governors belong to political families. PCIJ.Org; Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism. http://pcij.org/2024/12/08/governors-political-dynasties-philippines-provinces-elections/
- Miranda, G. L., Maujerie. (2024, October 26). 8 in every 10 district reps belong to dynasties. More than half are reelectionists in 2025. PCIJ.Org; Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism. http://pcij.org/2024/10/26/lower-house-district-representatives-political-dynasties-reelection/
- News, G. I. (2025, February 12). 55% of party-list groups don’t represent marginalized sectors — Kontra Daya. GMA News Online. https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/nation/936006/55-of-party-list-groups-don-t-represent-marginalized-sectors-kontra-daya/story/
Workers versus Heat: Demanding Hazard Pay for Health
Kiko, a platform rider, worker aged 42, lamented, “Summer in Manila has never been this hot.” With temperatures soaring to an off-the-charts 47 degrees Celsius, this past summer is not just a record-breaker; it’s a sign of even hotter days ahead, as scientists warn that this could be the “coldest” we will experience.
As the planet warms and technology reshapes our lives, it is the workers in the gig (or platform) economy feeling the heat. Kiko is among the 400,000 platform workers in the country, as reported by Fairwork Philippines. Most of platform workers do not have social insurance (SSS or Philhealth) because of the nature of their employment. They earn their living on a day-to-day basis. Hence, they can’t hit pause or seek shelter just because it’s a scorching 47 degrees outside.
Photo Courtesy of RIDERS-SENTRO
The Heat Index: More Than Just Numbers
When asked about the heat index, Kiko said “It might be 36? But it feels like 47!”, yet it matters to who? Work does not stop at 36 or 47.
The impact of heat varies, inversely tied to social class. The working class bears the brunt under the blazing sun, while the middle class can seek refuge with SPF 50 and a cool drink. As for the elites, they fly out to milder climates at will.
To announce suspensions due to extreme heat indicates intolerable conditions that disrupts daily tasks. For schools with roofs and AC units, they have suspended classes multiple times in the past dry season, prompting some cities to consider heatwave signals akin to typhoon warnings.
Yet, heat, like storms, doesn’t discriminate. Extreme weather affects everyone’s physiology, regardless of social standing—and this is a basic argument for workers to demand better working conditions.
A study on risk perception of heat among workers even warningly says that workers perceive heat stress lowly, that contributes to occupational heat stress as a risk factor for serious medical conditions.1 In July 2023, five people died in Italy while working under the heatwave. This forms part of the 61,000 deaths due to the European heatwave that is projected to dial up year after year.2
Kiko says, “to pause and seek some shade to cool down helps a little, but to do work stoppage and not seek delivery orders does not help us at all.” Like a planet that heats up, jobs for delivery riders like Kiko has no option B.
Climate Crisis as Work Hazard
Heatwaves, along with other extreme weather conditions, signify a climate emergency and justify demands for hazard pay. Just as frontline workers were compensated during Covid-19 crisis, those enduring the climate crisis’ extreme heat deserve recognition and compensation. But who foots the bill?
Some companies provide basic relief, like cold water for transport workers and shaded rest areas for construction crews. However, the costs of heat-related illnesses (like heat rash, spasms, and heat stroke) aren’t put into paychecks.
Other countries have set-up compensation measures for work interruptions during dangerous levels of heat. The Austrian government has approved a collective bargaining agreement with its federation of construction workers to allow work stoppage for heat of above 32.5ºC with 60% compensation during the work stoppage period.3 France has an inclement weather leave fund for workers in the construction industry;4 Germany’s IG BAU—in a CBA with roofing industry workers—compensates up to 53 hours of salary if roofing workers are unable to work due to weather conditions such as extreme heat;5 In Italy, when employers declare perceived heat more than 35ºC, they can avail of their unemployment scheme protection, and is also applicable if a worker is laid-off due to inclement weather.6
The Costs Have Escaped, The Heat Will Not
Meanwhile, in the Philippines, the Department of Labor has issued a guideline for private sector workers on work suspension due to bad weather.7 But for platforms workers like Kiko, the private sector has none or minimal interventions due to its informal type of agreement with its workers. For farmers and other agricultural workers, they could literally farm to death with this dangerous heat, and no business intervention would be there to save them.
While the mentioned countries are developed economies, a climate finance scheme is actually available for developing countries, especially for informal and platform workers.8 The Philippine government, in Kiko’s behalf, can argue that workers incur loss and damages due to heat and that corporations are liable to this.
Absent of this loss and damage framework, corporations would only charge the health hazard pay to consumers and escape their cost of heating up the planet. The alt-right would then blame workers for higher cost of goods—a time-tested cost-escaping strategy of corporations. All this happening while the heat they have produced does not escape the atmosphere and only goes back to us. To put a house on fire and then walk away like nothing happened is arson. Those who contributed to this global arson should actually pay its price and not add more fuel to this burning planet.
US Senator Bernie Sanders rightly pointed out how the alt-right propaganda puts the battle among workers vs consumers instead of uniting the people versus corporate greed and the climate crisis. Workers should not be afraid to demand a health hazard pay for taking the heat. Consumers should not blame workers who deliver their lunch in their air-conditioned buildings. Instead, consumers should take on this heat with workers and demand for a health hazard pay.
Whether in the perspective of suspensions or heat-indices, this heat is an occupational hazard. Workers deserve a compensation to this health hazard—and carbon corporations should pay for it. Not Kiko, not you.
Notes
1 Bonafede, M., Levi, M., Pietrafesa, E., Binazzi, A., Marinaccio, A., Morabito, M., Pinto, I., de’ Donato, F., Grasso, V., Costantini, T., & Messeri, A. (2022). Workers’ perception heat stress: Results from a pilot study conducted in italy during the covid-19 pandemic in 2020. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(13), 8196.
2 Limb, L. (2023, July 24). Heat stress: How can we save workers from a ‘silent killer’? Euronews.
3 Building and Wood Workers’ International. (2024). Adapting to the Heat: Existing Global Responses for Workers in Construction, Building Materials, Wood, and Forestry Industries (p. 44). Building and Wood Workers’ International.
4 Proposition de loi, 1587, 16e législature (2023).
5 Building and Wood Workers’ International. (2018, November 9). New agreement gives wage increase to German roofing workers. Building and Wood Workers’ International.
6 Italy readies special furlough scheme to save workers from heatwave. (2023, July 25). Reuters.
7 Patinio, F. (2022, August 25). DOLE issues guidelines on work suspension due to bad weather. Philippine News Agency; Philippine News Agency.
8 Protecting People from Extreme Heat: 10 Steps for Governments to Address Human Rights Impact of Climate Crisis. (2022, July 21). Human Rights Watch.
Can You Raise Your Flag in Japan?
The day was April 29, 2023, the start of Golden Week celebrations, on a sunny but still tolerably cool day in Nagoya City. I was running around the open space of the South Exit of Kanayama Station as a volunteer for the Philippine Friendship Festival (PFF). This event was returning for the first time since it was canceled in 2020 and throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Sponsored by the Chubu-Philippine Friendship Association (one of the major volunteer groups engaging Filipino migrant communities throughout Central Japan), the event hosts multiple cultural presentations, Filipino food businesses, money exchange and transfer kiosks, as well as tourism booking booths. It’s an opportunity for Filipinos to meet each other, and promote Filipino places and points of pride to swarming Japanese crowds. I mostly assumed this was going to be my main concern for the day.
Something in the corner of the open space, however, caught my eye.
I encountered a handful of activists staging an impromptu call to action together with a mobile exhibit. Carrying posters, photos of protest actions, and political events, I realized the activists were members of Kenkoro (建交労, the All-Japan Construction and Transportation General Labor Union) protesting the government’s continuing subversion of Article 9 as well as campaigning for greater social spending.
Realizing that they were labor activists, I tried to converse with them—I with my limited Japanese and they with limited English. We were both pleasantly surprised to discover our connections—they are affiliates of Zenroren (the national Japanese labor movement) while I was a former labor center staff of SENTRO (a Filipino labor center that has had long-standing solidarity projects with Zenroren). They shared that Filipinos are among the well-known migrant workers in their fields and throughout this region, and were thankful to find someone like me who is sympathetic to them. They also reminded me of the occasional protest actions my activist friends, mentors and even former students staged when issues pop up. They tend to be a motley crew of no more than ten- or twenty-people holding placards, desperately gathering attention or trying to provoke a public response, with little success.
I did have to return to my volunteer work at PFF for the rest of the day (and they wrapped up not long after I left). That said, meeting them became an ongoing point of reflection for me since that day. I thought it quite sad that not only activist action here in Nagoya doesn’t seem to garner as much traction, but it seems to be a phenomenon wherever in the country. This is not to say that protest action in Japan in general remains unpopular or flat-out frowned upon—at least, not as much anymore. As discussed by Carl Cassegård in his 2022 article on the rebirth of Japanese protest movements, the twin factors of a) landscape changes that destabilized traditional Japanese politico-cultural regimes, coupled with b) the persistence of niche activist spaces that sustained progressive political attitudes even as they remain unpopular, are instrumental to reinvigorating civil society engagement.1
This is important considering Japanese civil society’s long sluggishness since the heyday of the Anpo (anti-US-Japan Security Treaty) in 1960 and the demise of the New Left in Japan in the 1970s. For the most part, protest action in Japan tends to mostly gain traction with the national audience if it involves three factors. The first would be if it is in response to monumental urgent issues like those in the aftermath of the 2011 triple disaster in Fukushima, the 2018-2019 protests against the corruption of prime minister Shinzo Abe (who was assassinated later), and the holding of Olympics in 2020. The second would be if the ones mobilizing are parts of minority communities pushing for integration/protection in Japanese society (such as those representing Zainichi Korean communities and the more recent #BlackLivesMatter Tokyo). Third, and perhaps more importantly, if the issues involved are covered globally and affect Japan’s international relations such as the ever-contentious Article 9 and the US bases in Okinawa.
Then again, maybe this is the core-periphery politics of many modern nations at work. Nagoya City, only recently catching up to the level of international attention and politico-economic significance of Japan’s other major urban centers (like Tokyo Metro and Osaka), exhibits the same challenges gentrified cities have when it comes to fostering more activist political participation. The consciousness or willingness of people to be part of a “community of fate” that would mobilize them towards open engagement remains alien to popular Japanese consciousness—booted and stigmatized as it was during the boom economic years before the bubble of the 1990s. Hence, it’s a bit unfair to expect it to sustain the same level of monumental activist changes that may be more visible in Tokyo Metro. The situation tends to affect civic and organized groups in general regardless of ideology, as not even the more conservative and right-wing mobilizations (such as uyoku dantai and anti-vaxxer groups) tend to garner enough boots on the ground either.
This brings me back to something I was directly tied to: the Filipino communities in Central Japan. While being part of volunteer and cultural exchanges is one thing, it’s another thing to ask about Filipino activism in Japan. If Japan in itself is still struggling with fostering more open and engaged spaces for Japanese of all ages to express their dissatisfaction and dissent at how their country is run, how does the Filipino diaspora figure in these niches? Should we agitate and engage? Should we reach out by means of international solidarity? Or do we keep to ourselves until our problems become big enough that it has to be aired out in the open? For that matter, to what extent are we actually seeking to engage and educate, or to merely “find our own”?
The answer, if my own experience of Filipinos’ engagement with the 2022 national elections back in the Philippines is any indication, depressingly suggests the latter.
Hansley A. Juliano is an LRI fellow engaged in writing about civil society & social movement history, as well as labor policy strategies. He is also a returning Lecturer of the Department of Political Science, Ateneo de Manila University. He is currently finishing his Ph.D. in International Development at the Graduate School of International Development (GSID), Nagoya University.
1 Carl Cassegård (2023), “The recovery of protest in Japan: from the ‘ice age’ to the post-2011 movements,” Social Movement Studies, 22:5-6, 751-766, DOI: 10.1080/14742837.2022.2047641.