The Working Class, BioEnergy, and Green Jobs

A substantial shift in industrial relations in the Philippines is becoming more apparent as more organizations lean toward services and technological changes (from manufacturing), requiring fewer but more skilled labor. The call center industry outshone all other industries in 2007, contributing to the 7.3% growth in the economy with USD15 billion coming from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) remittances.

 

This development, however, is resulting to “inferior” jobs being downgraded to the informal sector which, according to the latest statistics from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), number around 12 million own account workers and 4 million unpaid family workers. The wage and salary workers total 18 million. A large number of work in the informal sector, where children and women are largely represented, are in agriculture. 

 

With its vast alternative energy sources, the Philippines (also the world’s biggest geothermal producer behind the United States), has a lot of potential attracting global investors. Currently, 48% of its power needs come from imported fuels like crude oil derivatives, while the remaining 52% are sourced from indigenous sources like biomass, hydropower, and geothermal.

 

THE NEED FOR COLLECTIVE REPRESENTATION

Industrial relations is about the search for fairness and equality, which in the Philippines is (still) a work in progress. The predominantly managerial-oriented perspective of the formal job market (which is more individualistic as opposed to collectivist) discourages workers from representative active participation. 

 

A significant collectivistic form of representation has taken place in Philippine society and the state, through the Cooperative and the Local Government Codes of 1990, have noticeably empowered the working class in the triangular relationship between labor, capital and the state itself.  Cooperative movements have been at the forefront on savings and credit for the past 60 years. Self-reliant and independent, the cooperatives’ social capital has helped the transformation of local communities. 

 

Today, agriculture plays a dominant role in a “green economy” and eradicating poverty in the country. Agricultural-based cooperatives can stir workers’ interests with talks about “bioenergy” and “microfinancing” aimed at stimulating economic growth and creating “green jobs.”

 

Industrial relations system today work to strengthen the capacities of workers to participate in domestic market expansion, regional cluster cooperation, international trade development, and management. There should be a broadening in the definition of industrial relations on empowerment, the environment, and market institutions. 

 

BIOENERGY TO LOW CARBON WORK 

In January 2007, Republic Act 9367 (RA 2006) mandates the use of biofuels in the country (PNOC, 1: 2007). It aims to reduce the country’s dependence on imported, dollar draining and pollution generating petroleum products. The law was the first of its kind in Southeast Asia. It requires the blending of coco methyl esther (CME) or coco-diesel in diesel fed vehicles and of ethanol in gasoline fueled ones. 

 

Biofuels are alternative fuels which are produced from the feedstock or organic sources that are renewable such as trees, crops, and plant fiber. Bioenergy, that is, biofuels of biological and renewable origin like bioethanol, biodiesel, and biomass for energy is the subject of increasing attention around the world. They are carbon neutral fuels which mean that global warming need not get worse. An early initiative is Republic Act 8749 known as the Clean Air Act of 1999, which also provides the framework for the use of alternative fuels for motor vehicles. Biofuels include bioethanol, biodiesel, and other fuels. Bioethanol is a light alcohol produced by fermenting sugarcane, corn, and cassava. Biodiesel is a renewable and biodegradable fuel extracted from plant oils. Its sources include palm, jatropha, and coconut. 

 

The conversion facilities in rural areas, close to where the feedstock is grown are expected to increase employment and wages and ensure the sustainable use of local resources in the

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community. Energy crops have the potential to extend the land base available for agricultural activities and to create new markets for farmers (Agbon, 17: 2008). These positive impacts in the dynamics of the rural economy should reduce the traditional exodus to urban areas and favor greater investment in rural infrastructure, health, and education. The biofuel industries are expanding in Europe, Asia, and the Americas.

 

The Philippines was the first country to use coconut as a source of feedstock for biodiesel. Size is a reliable guide to influence. There are 3.3 million hectares planted with coconut trees (Canoy, 2009). About 25 million farmers depend on the industry whose products are 80% exported and 20% consumed locally. About 68 out of 79 provinces have coconut as their major agricultural product.

 

BRIDGING EXPERTISE AND AWARENESS

Land and resource rights are significant aspects in bioenergy projects involving the cultivation of energy crops or access to natural biosources. Biomass is the main source of energy use for 3 billion people in the developing world and has been converted into electricity and heat in industrial scale plants (UNESCO, 2006). Somewhere at the center of the arguments on how to create jobs and sustainable development, is the critical role of bioenergy and efficient usage.

 

The pay offs from research and development are available and only have to be diffused widely in a continuing effort to bridge the gap between expertise for the few and knowledge for the many. Only an encompassing renewable energy movement can be expected to actively support long term policy commitments to foster proper structures and legitimize socially responsible behavior. If bioenergy is to capture the imagination of the working class, it will not be because of an enlightened minority in the society finds its logic attractive but because in people’s everyday organized activities, they choose to act in ways that complement that logic. 

 

GREEN JOBS FOR FUTURE ECONOMY

The Philippines aims to generate 20% of its energy from renewable resources by 2015, according to the Global Energy Network Institute. The Renewable Energy Act of 2008 (RA 9513) promotes the intensive development, utilization and commercialization of renewable energy source-geothermal, hydropower, biomass, solar, wind, ocean, and other emerging energy source. It recognizes the critical need to provide adequate and sustainable energy services.

 

Considered the most comprehensive renewable energy law in Southeast Asia, it aims to work toward:

 

A green pricing option to promote consumer choice of power supply; Allocation of a minimum amount of generation capacity from renewable energy; Promotion of the use of renewable energy hybrid systems and applications; Conduct of sustained information dissemination on renewable energy development, and Provision of financial and fiscal incentives to renewable energy developers and implementors.

 

While the rural poor are faced with new vulnerabilities, they also are faced with new opportunities. The green economy and an activist state should reveal new trends on how workers are able to gain real influence over technological change at work. There is great potential for carbon sequestration projects in the Philippines, primarily due to its biophysical condition and presence of land areas that could and should be reforested. 

 

 

IN THE FACE OF CHANGE

Democratic participation is a cumulative process of change and characteristic of participation is its dynamic nature. The program on bio-energy is a spring-board for the working class in the build up for a sound economy for the future, with full participation in productivity and modernization. Workers can take up the challenge of green jobs, over and beyond the traditional representation of their interests by developing new perspectives and strategy.

 

A massive cultural change is underway on the issue of climate change. More and more people and institutions are joining the

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green movement and they are bound to bring changes to lifestyle and work relations. Industrial relations’ fight against inequality and need for institutional reforms should be the priorities. In order to foster dialogues, there is a need to generate multiple spaces in which to concentrate initiatives and push forward joint efforts. 

 

REFERENCES

Agbon, Marriz. Characterisitics of Energy Crops in the Philippines, The Third Asia Biomass Seminar in Manila, Dusit Hotel Nikko Makati City, 5 to November 2007. | Bureau of Labor and Employment, Current Labor Statistics, January 2009. | Canoy, Carmelito. Personal Interview. August 2009. | The Philippine National Oil Company. The Alternative Fuels Corporation. Biofuels Act Primer. PIA, 2007.

 

Web sites:

Andrade, Jeannette. “Asia Emerging as Center of Carbon Trade Program”,  Philippine Daily Inquirer ( April  8, 2008), http://www.asianewsnet.net/print | “Clean Development Mechanisms Philippines”. (http://cdmdna.emb.gov.ph/cdm) Department of Energy Website. | Department of Environment and Natural Resources, http://server2.denr.gov.ph/files/doc.2009-06_311.pdf | Global Energy Network Institute, http:// www.geni.org/globalenergy | The United Nations World Water Development  Report 2, http:// www.unesco.org/water/wwap

 

 

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The Author

DR. VIRGINIA A. TEODOSIO is a faculty member of the University of the Philippines School of Labor and Industrial Relations. Email her at vateodosio@up.edu.ph.

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