The National Conciliation and Mediation Board, together with the Employers Confederation of the Philippines and the Federation of Free Workers, comprised the Philippine delegation to the High-Level Tripartite Regional Seminar on Industrial Relations in Southeast Asian Countries held on 22-24 February 2023 in Tokyo, Japan. The event is organized by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in partnership with the ILO/Japan Multi-bilateral Programme. Atty. Kim Marie M. Roque-Aquino, OIC-Director of Technical Services Department, represented the Philippine government sector.

The seminar sought to review the current approach to labor relations and provide an avenue for the participating countries to share experiences and knowledge on key challenges facing industrial relations and social dialogue, including tripartite social dialogue arrangements in the country; best practices and challenges of bipartite social dialogue between employers and workers organizations; and propose follow up initiatives in support of promoting collaborative industrial relations.

OIC-Director Aquino presented the Philippine country report, giving emphasis on the country’s labor market situation, challenges on industrial relations, policy on tripartism and social dialogue, existence of bipartite social dialogue mechanisms, union density, CBA coverage and labor dispute resolution situation. OIC-Director Aquino also served as one of the panelists for the session on preventing and resolving labor disputes, where she was able to highlight the best practices of the country in the promotion of conciliation-mediation, bipartite mechanisms and other cooperative, non-adversarial modes of dispute resolution.

In addition, panel discussions were also held on how to move from conflict to cooperation in industrial relations, child labor, and occupational safety and health. The host country, Japan, also shared their policy developments on responsible business conduct and the direction of the country’s science and technology policies towards addressing global social challenges brought by digital transformation.

As the importance of social dialogue is deeply recognized by the participants, they recommended that tripartite review of social dialogue arrangements at country level be regularly conducted. Likewise, the promotion of bipartite dialogue between employers and workers organizations on persisting issues was advocated.

Other participating countries include Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Singapore, Timor Leste, Thailand and Viet Nam. Also in attendance were representatives from the Japan Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, ILO-Bureau for Workers’ Activities (ACTRAV), ILO-Bureau for Employers’ Activities (ACTEMP), Japanese Trade Union Confederation (JTUC-RENGO), Japan Business Federation (KEIDANREN), ASEAN Trade Union Council (ATUC), and ASEAN Secretariat.

End/Jinky Mae Arquero