Boracay, Aklan – The Philippine League of Labor Management Cooperation Practitioners (PHILAMCOP), Inc. in collaboration with the Regional Conciliation and Mediation Branch VI spearheaded the conduct of this year’s Visayas Cluster Convention on Labor-Management Cooperation on May 3, 2024 at Paradise Garden Resort and Convention Center, Boracay, Aklan.

A total of 199 management and workers’ representatives from 59 companies attended the activity. It was graced by the presence of Visayas cluster Directors Francis A. Gonzalo, Jr. of RCMB VI, Gemma R. Poloyapoy of RCMB VII and Hacelfeo T. Cuares of RCMB VIII and Chief Julie F. Rodriguez of the NCMB Central Office.

RCMB VI Director Francis A. Gonzalo, Jr. and PHILAMCOP President Gina Fe G. Israel delivered their welcome messages conveying heartfelt gratitude to the participants for their unwavering support to the collaborative activities of NCMB and PHILAMCOP. 

“It is important for any organization to have good working relationships among its people as well as build and maintain them. In such an environment, the employees perform better at their jobs and have lesser issues during work. When people experience such harmony, chances are, a greater sense of value and belongingness is felt,” Director Gonzalo said.

Meanwhile, President Israel highlighted the crucial role of cooperation and partnership in the quest for harmonious relations in workplaces despite differences in culture and dialects.

With the goal of apprising LMC advocates of the current trends and developments in the world of work and equipping them with the right attitude and mindset in coping with these changes, the convention featured topics on “Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Future of Work” and “Homegrown Values as a Keystone Towards Positivity and Productivity in the Digital Era” presented by esteemed speakers from the academe.

Dr. Melisa R. Serrano, Dean of the University of the Philippines School of Labor and Industrial Relations (UP-SOLAIR), lectured on the challenges and potentials of AI in workplaces emphasizing how innovations may lead to worker displacement in the future, particularly on jobs that are easily automated and codified. There is also a challenge on workersʼ skills composition and the widening income inequality between highly-skilled, highly paid workers and low-skilled, low-paid workers. 

With these identified risks, Dr. Melisa pinpointed possible actions to mitigate and manage the impact of AI in workplaces. She stressed the need for consultation and negotiation between employers and workers to encourage redeployment and training over job loss and the need for specific laws intended to regulate AI application in the workplace which are crafted through tripartite systems and procedures.

The second speaker, Ms. Rowena Bañes, Dean of the University of St. La Salle-Bacolod, provided insights on the important roles of LMC practitioners in addressing the concerns of the digital era. Primarily, LMC practitioners have to adopt an accommodating-inclusive approach to changes in the work landscape and to their impact. They have to take an integrative and values-laden lens in renewing themselves so as to meet the growing need for contemporary skills and attitudes vis-à-vis current occupational trends and technological advances.

As the event aimed to inspire participating companies to establish LMC in their workplaces, the Iloilo Coca-Cola Plant Employees Labor Union of Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines, Inc. Iloilo Plant were invited to showcase their LMC best practices and how LMC enhanced the labor management relations situation in their company. 

To conclude the activity, PHILAMCOP Secretary Amy D. Amar delivered her closing remarks and thanked the attendees for their presence and active participation in the learning sessions.

END/ Pia Bianca Sambrano