This week, TBB brought 12 delegates to Manila, Philippines for a training exchange. We provided carpentry and plumbing skills training to our Filapina sisters and they are providing training in community organizing. This is the furthest from North America that our organization has ever traveled. What attracted us to this location is the incredible work of the Association of Women Workers in the Construction Industry (AWWCI).

AWWCI was formally established in 2004. It is composed of skilled women workers e.g. painters, carpenters, masonries, and welders from different parts of National Capital Region (NCR), Caloocan, Manila, Taguig, Mandaluyong, Quezon City and nearby Bulacan.

The group aims to recognize and empower all women workers in the construction industry while raising awareness. They promote and defend workers’ dignity, respect for human rights, general welfare, security, and well being of workers. AWWCI develops skills training and recognizes women’s participation in the field of construction through social protection, social justice, equality and gender perspective. They promote and defend workers’ rights, especially the rights to self-organization and collective bargaining. 

Many of the issues that are prevalent in the construction industry of the United States and Canada are prevalent in the Philippines. Women here deal with discriminatory practices regarding employment and benefits while constantly coming up against the “macho” culture on the jobsite. Women are often put in a more vulnerable position due to limited access to resources for building up working womens’ needs and welfare, the stereotype of women’s work in the home, lack of opportunity (specifically skills training in the construction trades), lack of political participation within their unions, and the disproportionate effect of the pandemic on working women’s ability to participate in the workforce during covid.

To address these issues, AWWCI offers gender sensitivity training, organizer training, leadership training, train-the-trainer training, facilitator training, health and safety training, advocacy and campaign training, as well as legal services. 

The organization was behind successful policy changes in the Philippines that greatly impacted women workers. This included the Expanded Maternity Leave Law, Safe Spaces Law, Reproductive Health Law, the Anti-Discrimination Law, the Anti Violence Against Women and their Children Act of 2004, the Philippines Magna Carta for Women and the Magna Carta for the informal sector.

AWWCI is currently working on a global campaign to end gender based violence inside and outside of the workplace, as well as a campaign around the Philipino war on drugs and the negative impact it has had on women. 

They helped push the Philippines to sign onto the The International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Convention 190, also known as the Violence and Harassment Convention, which is the first global treaty to end violence and harassment in the workplace.

For the next three days, AWWCI will provide our North American delegates with community organizing training at their Office in Quezon City. Advocates will be presenting on topics such as leadership, community organizing, workers rights based on international law, unionism, coalition work, and gender roles. The hope is that our delegates will leave feeling inspired, and bring home the lessons they learn so that they can make a difference in their communities.

For more information on AWWCI, you can follow them on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/WomenInConst