Firm shows how to push employees to go into business
As publicized in Philippine Daily Inquirer
Sunday, January 21, 2007

The relationship between employers and workers is a complex one. Both parties have different needs and expectations that require addressing. In a competitive environment, companies need to focus on their core competencies.

The trend today is business outsourcing. To maintain a productive run, companies tend to hire contractual workers.

The formal labor sector consists of about five million regular employees with about two million belonging to organized unions. Twenty million workers comprise the informal labor sector in the country. Despite their great number, seasonal employees are disadvantaged by the fact that their chance for progress is hindered by the unpredictable nature of nonregular employment.

Also, they tend to earn less than their regular counterparts not to mention the lack of benefits and compensation.

A relatively new but innovative approach to provide employment for those in the informal sector, especially the contractual workers, is that of Asiapro Cooperative. Asiapro Cooperative is a multi-purpose cooperative that takes care of placing its worker-members in temporary jobs in cooperating companies.

Asiapro Cooperative helps those who are not permanently employed in the formal sector. Under its model, worker-members organize themselves and form a cooperative society. The cooperative becomes the contracting party that deals with business groups that are increasingly outsourcing labor services that are not part of their competence. Asiapro Cooperative provides a steady source of efficient manpower and services to various companies to ensure the long-term productivity for these contracting parties. It also looks after its members and ensures that they get good packages as members and co-owners of their own enterprise.

According to founder Leo Parma, Asiapro Cooperative pioneered the organization of a non-organized sector of labor which is the nonregular workers in the Philippines.

“Nobody will listen to them to get them business opportunities. The cooperative approach provides them with business-to-business type of interaction and negotiation with client. If we come into terms, then we are in business and it’s non-adversarial,” he says.

Membership with Asiapro Cooperative ensures access to savings and credit facilities and other livelihood services for the members. Being a multi-purpose cooperative, Asiapro Cooperative is also engaged in service contracting, management services, productivity and manpower resource services in activities such as, but not limited to, production, manufacturing, agriculture, office administration, sales and promotion, logistics, housekeeping and maintenance.

The highly competitive stage calls for adjustments on the part of employers.

The cost of recruiting and training new workers after every contractual period is a major consideration. As a direct consequence of replacing trained workers, productivity, quality and efficiency might in some ways be compromised.

“We tell our clients this setting is better for you because you continue to engage the same productive workers, you continue to have flexibility. Our mind set is entrepreneurial so we give you our best,” says Parma.

Asiapro Cooperative had about a dozen clients during its initial operation in 1999. Today it has about 130 clients. It started with 66 members; today it is made up of 18,500 worker-member with a great rate of members actively engaged.

As co-owners of the enterprise, they also have the opportunity to share whatever success the cooperative will reap in the future.