About two weeks ago, a Chinese investor invited me for dinner. He owns two large manufacturing firms here in the Philippines and employs about two thousand personnel. When I asked him what was his reason for investing in the Philippines, he said that the Philippines is a good country and he foresees a good return for his money however, too much democracy is killing its economy. He specifically pointed out that as compared to China, the labor industry here is very much unstable due to strikes, cases being filed every now and then and clamors made by various sectors. Then, he ended up the topic by saying, "Philippine government should not be too democratic because it is not yet mature to handle its affairs.".
His statements dawned on me and I began to realize that in the various upheavals in the labor industry, the investor's choice was almost always to terminate his venture. Take the case Divine Word University in Tacloban City. Professors and staff members waged a strike for salary increase; the case was dragged to the Supreme Court, the former won but the end result was a closure of a fine academic institution. In the end, it turns out that the employees were the losers. A brief moment of economic gain was surely not worth losing a lifetime chance to earn a living. .
When I met my group at Kentucky Fried Chicken for dinner, I decided to take an approach that was pro-investor/employer yet not too detrimental to the employee. We specifically chose a topic that concerns health and safety in the working environment. A business venture's concern should not only be for profit-making but to ensure the welfare of its workforce as well. .
After the brainstorming activity, I came to the conclusion that trade unionism can do so much to help the country address its labor issues. Firstly, if every industry can form trade unions, it is easier to gather the much needed information to alleviate the situation.
