{"id":65404,"date":"2026-01-05T15:00:28","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T15:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lirneasia.net\/futureworksasia\/?post_type=projects&p=65404"},"modified":"2026-01-22T10:18:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T10:18:06","slug":"pathways-to-collective-power-testing-models-for-organizing-business-process-outsourcing-bpo-workers-in-the-philippine-digital-labor-sector","status":"publish","type":"projects","link":"https:\/\/lirneasia.net\/futureworksasia\/projects\/pathways-to-collective-power-testing-models-for-organizing-business-process-outsourcing-bpo-workers-in-the-philippine-digital-labor-sector\/","title":{"rendered":"Pathways to Collective Power: Testing Models for Organizing Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Workers in the Philippine Digital Labor Sector"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Grantee<\/strong>: BPO Industry Employees Network (BIEN)
Partner organizations<\/strong>: N\/A
Country of focus:<\/strong> Philippine 
Grant period:<\/strong> November 2025 \u2013 April  2027<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

FutureWORKS Asia<\/a> is part of the FutureWORKS Collective, a global initiative supported by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada<\/a>, aimed at addressing the evolving challenges in the world of work across the Global South. As the Asian arm of the broader FutureWORKS network, the initiative is led by LIRNEasia<\/a> and focuses on supporting high-quality, innovative, and gender-responsive research to inform skills development and policy pathways for an inclusive and sustainable future of work in Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the completion of the first competitive selection process, five research projects under Cycle 1 are currently ongoing. In November 2025, FutureWORKS Asia onboarded seven additional research projects under Cycle 2, expanding the regional research network. These Cycle 2 projects will run until April 2027, deepening evidence and policy engagement across diverse future-of-work themes, including climate transitions, gender, and labour market transformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BIEN has been selected to conduct a 18 month research and advocacy project, Pathways to collective power: testing models for organizing business process outsourcing (BPO) workers in the Philippine digital labor sector. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Philippine BPO sector employs over 1.8 million workers and is a key driver of economic growth, yet it remains marked by high stress, low wages, intense monitoring, and limited avenues for collective voice. Union density in the sector is extremely low, shaped by workplace surveillance, fear of retaliation, high labour turnover, and limited familiarity with organising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This project seeks to identify practical, effective pathways for collective organisation in the BPO industry by testing and comparing three distinct organising models:<\/p>\n\n\n\n