The Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR) welcomes various local and international efforts to study and keep track of labor rights in the Philippines, including the Labor Rights Index of Amsterdam-based global, independent, and non-profit organizations Wage Indicator and Centre for Labour Research.

The decrease in the Philippines’ score in the Labor Rights Index from 70.5 in 2022 to 68 in 2024 is consistent with what workers, unionists and labor activists and advocates observe – the dismal state and further decline of labor rights in the country.

The Labor Rights Index tracks the decline in workers’ right to freedom of association, citing the Labor Code provision mandating that a union must have “majority support in a bargaining unit for engaging in collective bargaining.” For the Labor Rights Index, this limits workers’ access to freedom of association and collective bargaining.

The truth is that in the Philippines, forming a union often means being retrenched from work, and is not seen as a fundamental workers’ right. When workers form unions, employers and even the government say that workers should simply be grateful for at least having a job.

The Labor Rights Index, which studies and ranks the state of labor rights in 145 countries on the basis of the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Decent Work Agenda, is most salutary. While its method of examining countries’ laws still yield important insights, it is also quite limited.

The Philippines has often been praised for having a robust policy and legal framework on labor, as well as for enthusiastically signing many international labor conventions. The problem, however, is the lack of implementation of labor laws, and actual government action to protect labor rights.

The country should learn the from Labor Rights Index’s criticism of the lack of laws that: (1) restrict work that is dangerous to the mother’s and child’s health, (2) set an employment entry age that is equal to or higher than the country’s compulsory schooling age, (3) limit overtime and maximum working hours to 56 per week, (4) require paid annual leave of at least three weeks, and (5) provide parental leave, pegged at four months, and flexible working arrangements for workers who take on family responsibilities.

At the same time, the high scores gained by the country on the issue of fair wages, employment security, social security and fair treatment stands in contrast with labor groups’ demands for the junking of the regionalization of wage setting and of contractualization. Needless to say, they do not capture the dismal state of labor rights in the country – wages far below living wage levels, precarious work that can be ended by the employer at any time, lack of social protection, and various kinds of discrimination in the workplace.