Benjamin Alvero is the newly-appointed Executive Director of The Labor Education and Research Network (LEARN) in the Philippines, which is an IFWEA affiliate. We speak to Benjamin about his new position, the role of LEARN, and the crucial importance of worker education:
Congratulations on your new position! Where will you be based, and what will your key duties be?
Thank you! I am based in Manila, the Philippine capital. As Executive Director, I am responsible for overseeing the operations of my organisation, the Labor Education and Research Network (LEARN). LEARN is active in many areas – from general worker’s education, technical training, organising, and ideological development – within the Philippine labour movement.
How did you start on this journey – where did your interest in worker politics, worker education and activism come from?
I started as a student activist. My personal politicisation started in the Ateneo de Manila University, a private, Catholic university. Owing to the influential role the Catholic Church plays in the Philippines, and the particular nature of Jesuit-education, the school is deeply intertwined with the history of our country. Ateneo has, and continues to develop the children of our ruling class. Numerous technocrats, landlords, industrialists, and union busters have passed through its halls.
At the same time, the university also has a rich story of militant activism. Ateneo produced heroic activists that joined the anti-dictatorship resistance of the martial law era in the 70s. While it “stands on a hill”, as the university hymn goes, it is not isolated from the polity. The student party I was part of had a close relationship with a trade union in the airline industry. The Philippine Airline Employees Association (PALEA) had been engaged in a protracted struggle since the early 2010s. Supporting these workers in 2015 through statements, academic papers, and other acts of solidarity was my first direct exposure to the labour movement. After finishing my undergraduate studies in 2018, I worked part-time under the Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa or SENTRO (Center of United and Progressive Workers). It’s one of the major labour centres in the country.
In what other organisations or unions have you been involved – and what was your role?
I started as a consultant with SENTRO. It was my first time seeing how the labour movement actually worked. I helped prepare project cooperation documents, technical reports, and wrote statements, position papers, and other materials for our many struggles. In the process, I got to meet and work with workers from various industries. It deepened my appreciation and commitment to the worker’s movement. I eventually became SENTRO’s Campaign Officer in 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic.
My first assignment was to help ABS CBN’s rank-and-file union fight for their legislative franchise. ABS CBN was one of the largest broadcast corporations in the country. Yet, it was closed down in the middle of a pandemic because of former president Duterte’s personal vendetta, a grudge borne from supposedly unfavourable coverage. Around 11,000 workers were affected. As Campaign Officer, I helped our unions wage various campaigns and struggles.
The nature of my work was very political – I often represented my organisation in legislative hearings, consultations, and forums abroad. Specifically, I took up a big part of our work in climate justice. These experiences helped broaden my appreciation of trade unionism. To me, the work of a unionist does not end in the realm of industrial relations. We workers must always be involved in political and social questions. Many of the difficulties I faced in my work stemmed from the lack of political mobilisation among workers. If we want to push for systemic reforms, or to protect hard-won social rights, there are no shortcuts. We must always make sure that our unions remain principled, militant, and ready for social struggle.
As IFWEA (International Federation of Workers’ Education Associations), we have shared a close relationship with LEARN, as an affiliate. What role does LEARN play in workers’ education in the Philippines?
LEARN contributes to the labour movement by helping build an education movement within it. Our work is an essential undercurrent of organised labour. When worker’s education is left behind, organisational, political, and ideological weakness often follow our unions. Worker’s education is not just technical training or classroom-type discussions. A saying we have is “Workers learn through combat – through social struggle.” Workers’ appreciation of unionism is much more tangible if they experience the actual fight for their rights. It is even more complete when we win. It still matters even if we lose.
Our focus is on worker’s education and organising. They are inseparable in our experience. Organising without sufficient education is sweeping but hollow. Education without praxis meanwhile makes armchair revolutionaries, not committed trade unionists. As part of our work, we help develop union educators, provide technical training to union leaders, and take part in actual organising work in the formal and informal sector.
What shape do your programmes take?
We have a ladderised education program as part of our general worker’s education arm. This includes orientation seminars, and basic courses that lay down the foundations of trade unionism. Union leaders, educators, and second-liners also go through additional programmes: basic educator’s training, basic leadership training, gender sensitivity training, etc. – these are some of the courses we offer. We also provide training courses tailored to the specific needs of unions.
Outside formal training sessions, we also organise forums, webinars, and other educational activities. We often host discussions by other organisations part of, or allied to the labour movement. Our Worker’s House is a space for discussion and activity for all types of working people. We do most of our activities in person.
The COVID-19 pandemic forced us to adopt online methods of learning. However, our experience shows us that workers learn best in person, interactively, and with each other. However, since we work closely with migrant domestic workers, we also regularly implement online courses tailored specifically to them.
Who takes part – and how do you recruit participants?
Workers, whoever and wherever they are, are the primary participants of our activities. The scope of our work involves both the formal and informal sector, even migrant domestic workers. Membership in LEARN is organisation-based. Our member organisations are various unions and worker’s organisations.
What challenges do you face? And what triumphs have you had?
The main challenge confronting a worker’s education organisation is the serious crisis of worker’s education – both here and abroad. This is a product of, and reinforces, the general weakening of labour that has been happening for decades. Its symptoms in the Philippine labour movement are the political demobilisation of workers, as well as the disappearance of seriously-supported education programmes among most unions. Worker’s education is no longer a priority among many unions. This is reflected in the lack of resources invested in union education programmes and the development of urgently needed educators. This is a serious problem that needs to be reversed as soon as possible.
While many challenges remain, there are still successes that deserve to be celebrated. In my opinion, LEARN’s biggest triumphs are the expressions of labour unity made possible through its education work. SENTRO was a product of decades of education and unification work that began in the 1980s. Its formation as a merger of various federations and unions was made possible through the continuous support of our organisation. More recently, LEARN was instrumental in the formation of PIN@Y Careworker’s Transnational (PIN@Y), the first transnational union of migrant Filipino domestic workers. This too was a decades-long project. Many painful lessons and important experiences were gained in the course of organising migrant workers.
How important do you think it is for worker education programmes to be global (for example, online programmes with participants from many different countries)?
The labour movement is founded on two essential values – democracy and solidarity. Both are impossible within the confines of a single nation. Internationalism is the binding principle that unites the workers of the world – as expressed by our unions. To this end, global education programmes are important spaces for fostering solidarity across borders. More practically, having a global space for collaboration and exchange allows us to learn from each other’s experiences. It also provides the possibility of linking our struggles together. In the same way that capitalism, patriarchy, and other structures of inequality are interlinked up to the global level, so too must worker’s organisation be broad, deep, and robust.
What is your goal for worker education through LEARN?
Our goal is to rebuild the worker’s education movement in the Philippines. As I said before, this is an essential undercurrent to keep our unions organisationally, politically, and ideologically moored to our vision of social justice and worker’s liberation. While that dream may seem distant given the many problems we face today, it is not impossible. We get there by doing what we can from where we are. If there’s any lesson to take from labour’s experiences in the long 20th century, it’s that democracy depends on free, vibrant, and strong labour unions. We can only build unions like this on a strong educational foundation – informed by our history, aspirations, and practical experiences.