ABSTRACT
The Philippines has a fairly progressive legal framework recognising the rights of workers to associate freely and have a voice on national and industry policies affecting them. These rights are a product of long workers’ struggle for collective advancement that dates back from the American colonial period at the turn of the twentieth century and which continues to the present. And yet, the unionised workers who enjoy collective bargaining right constitute a distinct minority, less than 1% of the 43-million plus work force. The ranks of the organised workers have not been growing in an economy that is increasingly being integrated in the global market. However, despite their shrinking numerical base, the unions still enjoy an influential voice in society. There are also various forms of alternative worker organising initiatives that are emerging such as ‘social movement unionism’, ‘solidarity economy’ movement among home-based workers. The Philippine union formation experience shows the limited applicability of traditional theories on bipartite labour-management relations and tripartite system of industrial relations. There is room for new theorising on worker organising and representation in a segmented and globalising economy.
