The Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) has renewed its call to continuously adhere to the scheme of tripartism in labor relations.

Tripartism in labor relations was established as State policy by the Labor Code when it provided that “workers and employers shall, as far as practicable, be represented in decision and policy-making bodies of the government.” The policy is in consonance with ILO Convention No. 144 on tripartite Consultation which provides, among others, that “Employers and workers shall be represented on an equal footing on any competent bodies.”

Pursuant to such policy, the government encouraged the establishment of two national umbrella sectoral organizations, one representing organized labor and the other, the employers. Accordingly, in 1975, ECOP and its counterpart, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) were established.

Under Presidential Letter of Instructions No. 688 issued on May 1, 1978, the government recognized the representation of ECOP and the TUCP in the promulgation of “a scheme which would promote systematically and on a sustained basis the establishment of an adequate machinery for positive cooperation between labor and management at appropriate levels of the enterprise”…for the purpose of broadening “the base of labor-management cooperation and make them true partners in the pursuit of justice-based development.”

ECOP from the time of its organization has been recognized by government and the ILO as the exclusive representative of employers at all levels of consultations and policy-making within the tripartite structure. This includes representation in government tripartite bodies as well as in ILO international conferences and meetings.

Resolution No. 3-C, series of 2010, was unanimously adopted by the Tripartite Industrial Peace Council (TIPC) on 14 September 2010, “Providing a Criteria for Nomination and Selection of Sectoral Representatives and Procedures for Nomination to Philippine Tripartite Bodies.”