Manila Tripartite Joint Statement Towards Strengthening Social Partnership in an Integrating ASEAN

We, the tripartite participants representing the government, labor and employers’ sectors from the Kingdom of , the Republic of , the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, , the Republic of the Union of , the Republic of the , the Kingdom of , and the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, gathered in on 18-19 October 2017 for the 8th ASEAN Regional Tripartite Social Dialogue Conference with the theme “Raising the Bar of Social Partnership in an Integrating ASEAN” organized under Philippine chairmanship, on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations;

RECOGNIZING that for 50 years of significant and dynamic collaboration, the ASEAN have made tremendous advances in community building under the three ASEAN pillars: economic integration, socio-cultural harmonization and political- security coordination;

OBSERVING that good practices in Industrial Relations and Labor Administration are one of the ultimate goals of ASEAN in which basic rights of both employers and workers are protected and promoted; the Tripartite Social Dialogue partners should collectively work to develop and implement programs to strengthen further the rights of women, young workers, migrant and informal sector workers, including those in the public sector;

NOTING that these advances are duly reflected in the following historic documents: ASEAN Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers (2007), ASEAN Charter (2008) which provides for “ASEAN Human Rights Mechanisms”, ASEAN Guidelines on Good Industrial Relations Practices (2010, ALMM), ASEAN Declaration on Strengthening Social Protection (2013), Declaration on Transition from Informal Employment to Formal Employment Towards Decent Work Promotion in ASEAN (2016), ASEAN Guidelines for Corporate Social Responsibility on Labour (2016, ALMM), Priorities and various ASEAN Work Programs reflecting the foregoing in their respective agenda; Putrajaya Joint Declaration on ASEAN Post 2015 Priorities Towards an ASEAN Citizen-Centric Civil Service; ASEAN Declaration on the Role of Civil Service as a Catalyst for Achieving the ASEAN Community Vision 2025; and Luang Prabang Joint Declaration on ASEAN Plus Three Civil Service Cooperation;

ACKNOWLEDGING that the organized representatives of the tripartite actors in the ASEAN such as the ASEAN Labor Ministers Meeting (ALMM) and the Senior Labor Officials Meeting (SLOM), the ASEAN Confederation of Employers

(ACE), and the ASEAN Service Employees Trade Union Council (ASETUC) have 1

undertaken an increasing number of programs supportive of good industrial Page

practices, in particular the promotion of the concept of “social partnership” between employer and labor in order to achieve lasting harmony, higher productivity, better welfare for both sides and sustainable competitiveness in an integrating ASEAN;

EMPHASIZING that the practice of Partnership in Industrial Relations should be deepened and promoted more widely now that ASEAN, as it embarks on its sixth decade of community building, is facing old and new challenges in the development of an inclusive and productive economic community that are reshaping the world of work in each ASEAN Member State and the ASEAN as a whole, foremost of which are the following: the formation of an ASEAN labor market characterized by the freer flow of skills and talents region-wide, provision of decent work, the expansion of the ASEAN Free Trade area into a greater East Asia Free Trade area, and the diffusion of new technologies some of which are disruptive to both business and work arrangements; hence, the Philippine Government through the Department of Labor and Employment, has given its full support in hosting this 8th ASEAN Regional Tripartite Social Dialogue Conference, paving the way for a successful tripartite gathering in commemoration of the ASEAN 50th Anniversary; and

CONCLUDING that the need to institutionalize Partnership in Industrial Relations has become more urgent given the rising need in the ASEAN region and other parts of the world for a more inclusive, balanced and sustainable development for all, in particular on how to give voice to the voiceless in society such as those in the economic margins, as enunciated in the 2011 UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights;

DO HEREBY AGREE that in all of the foregoing, sustained social dialogue, tripartism and social partnership between and among the social partners in each ASEAN Member State, and in the ASEAN as a whole, are critical if the ASEAN is to realize its goal of building a unified, competitive and people-centered ASEAN community as outlined in the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 and in conformity with the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;

DO HEREBY EXPRESS our collective commitment to give our all-out support to the efforts of the ASEAN, especially of the ALMM and SLOM, and its partners ACE and ASETUC, in building a sound and stable industrial relations system in each ASEAN Member State, and in the ASEAN as a whole, based on the foregoing framework and principles of partnership in industrial relations.

DO HEREBY FURTHER ENJOIN the Secretariat of this Conference to submit a summary report incorporating the suggestions, recommendations and action points taking note the presentation, discussions, and inputs during this 8th ASEAN Regional Tripartite Social Dialogue Conference;

ADOPTED in Manila, Philippines on the Nineteenth Day of October in the Year Two Thousand and Seventeen.