ILO-EU Trade for Decent Work Project: National Tripartite Consultative Workshop

The Project, which is supported by the European Union (EU), aims to promote social dialogue for improved compliance, better application of international labour standards (ILS) and COVID-19 responses. During the two-day workshop, the ILO-EU Trade for Decent Work Project gathered all tripartite constituents and social partners from government, labour and employers to discuss ways and actions on how to address and improve issues on labour law compliance and promote labour rights, freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining, especially in the country’s special economic zones. Further, the discussions also centred on how improving the state of labour law compliance and promoting international labour standards could ensure the country’s continued enjoyment of the EU GSP+ privileges, which are also contingent on its adherence to labour rights and workers’ welfare, among others, especially the core ILO conventions that it has already ratified.

The two-day workshop was formally opened by Mr. Khalid Hassan, Country Director of ILO Philippines, and Counsellor Maurizio Cellini, Head of Trade, Delegation of the European Union in the Philippines.

During the workshop, officials and representatives from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) gave their presentations on the state of labour law compliance and labour relations, the linkages between international trade and international labour standards in the context of the Philippines' access to EU's Generalised Schemes of Preference Plus (EU GSP+) and the current state of social dialogue, industrial relations and freedom of association in the country’s special economic zones.

About 30 offices, bureaus, agencies and organizations from the government and public sector (including the representatives from the human rights offices of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) and also other national government agencies such as the Department of Agriculture (DA), Philippine Commission on Women (PCW), and Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), among others), the workers' organizations and trade unions, and the employers' and exporters' groups and business chambers attended and participated in the Project's two-day workshop.