The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) yesterday offered to work with the Office of the Special Assistant to the President for Investment and Economic Affairs in pivoting the country to a progressive labor-centered business environment and attract investments particularly from the United States.
“We stand ready to partner with the Marcos Administration, especially Secretary Frederick Go, to promote progressive, worker-centered, and race-to-the-top labor relations to attract investors to set up shop here and generate more and better jobs for all because trade is inextricably tied to the full and free exercise of workers’ rights,” said Luis Corral, TUCP vice president, in a press statement.
TUCP made this statement in the wake of meetings between Filipino worker representatives and US officials where they tackled US President Joe Biden’s landmark Memorandum on Advancing Worker Empowerment, Rights, and High Labor Standards Globally, dubbed the US Global Labor Strategy.
TUCP said the strategy links trade and workers’ rights.
“This sends a clear and strong message that for the Philippines to be truly the US priority investment destination, we must place workers’ rights front-and-center not only in our labor and employment policies but in nation-building, beginning with addressing the long-unaddressed need to amplify the right of workers’ freedom of association which includes the right to organize,” Corral said.
TUCP also said this in relation to the ongoing negotiations of the Philippines and other countries on the proposed Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) with emphasis on firm commitment to fundamental labor rights and core labor standards.
“We trust that our respective governments and respective labor movements in the Philippines and the US forge a consensus and will follow through on these commitments that tariff-free access, trade agreements, and foreign investments should not be premised on cheap labor, but rather by compliance with human rights and labor rights obligations,” Corral said.
TUCP said enacting long-pending priority labor legislation on security of tenure and freedom of association, and conducting speedy competent investigation and resolution of cases of labor rights violations are “the levers to a pro-labor rights pivot increasingly crucial to upgrade the massive investment potential and employment potential of the Philippines.”
“This pro-labor rights pivot serves as an international seal of good housekeeping for sustainable businesses either to invest in the Philippines or to export tariff-free to foreign markets, generating more and better jobs for Filipino working families. Upholding workers’ rights is the key to capturing our niche in US priority investment areas on Just Transition towards renewables, such as geothermal, solar, and wind power, and electric vehicle and battery supply chains, considering the Philippines’ vast nickel, cobalt, and copper resources as key inputs for manufacturing batteries and other tech products,” Corral said.
In the meetings in Washington, D.C., Filipino worker representatives met with US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan,, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai, the State Department, the Department of Labor, the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee.
