The main agenda of the conference was to bring the voices of working women and men to public fora and initiate a dialogue with government, labour friendly organizations and labour activists on the pressures generated by the financial crisis on the manufacturing and production sector and its consequences. The conference provided a shared platform for the trade unions that have different background as textiles, garment, electronics to formulate a common vision which here is a struggle against neo-liberal capitalist policies and responding to the challenges posed by international trade and financial crisis. The presence of Triumph Union Philippines helped the trade unions in exploring the possibility of working at the international level, and building relationships with trade unions abroad which could conceivably lead to mobilization, such as an international retailer campaign.

The speaker from the Triumph Trade Union Philippines and Thailand highlighted the case of dismissed workers in Triumph Thailand and the closure of Triumph Philippines to reflect that economic crisis has become an excuse for the company to dismantle labour union and pressurize the workers in garment sectors. The solutions as presented by the unionist were to build solidarity among workers from different sectors to negotiate with the company because they are all victims of multi-nations company. With recent episodes, they cannot rely solely on the government.

The speaker from the SHARP trade union elucidated experiences of strong trade unions being repressed by companies mirrored in the reduced overtime work schedule, welfare scheme and exploitation of workers. To cope up with the upshots of the crisis the SHARP union is supporting the workers’ and trade unions of their own factory and other factories who are facing crisis, in helping them find jobs, guidance in handling income and expenses. Establishing wider solidarity of workers has been the mainstay of this measure.

The speaker from the Automobile Union highlighted on the impact that automobile industry has felt from the financial crisis. In Takata Company, most of the sub-contracted workers have been retrenched and some serving less than year have been dismissed. Takata union also agrees that the financial status of the company does not fall into worst condition but it just tries to disburse union and push responsibility to workers.

In response to the Trade Unions, the Ministry of Labour representative stated that the Ministry is implementing six measures to cope up with current crisis situation i) Support fund for the dismissed workers and training classes for dismissed workers ii) Support for the local small enterprises in order to build the capacity of local community and workers which will reduce the mobilization of workers in the industrial areas. iii) Reduce cost of living of workers by creating a market for low cost products and allocating social welfare cheque iv) Measures in increasing workers’ skills as required by the business operators v) Measures of Land Reform through Land Reform Department to draw the interest of workers’ in agriculture vi) increase skills of workers’ by providing vocational training.