EcoWaste Coalition and Manggagawa sa Komunikasyon ng Pilipinas commemorate World Environment Day with new partnership championing environmental and labor justice
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| Representatives from EcoWaste Coalition and Manggagawa sa Komunikasyon ng Pilipinas raise the call for a just transition towards a plastic-free future with the newly-signed Memorandum of Understanding. |
5 June 2026, Mandaluyong City. EcoWaste Coalition (EWC), through the Plastic-Free Pilipinas Project (PFP), joins hands with the Manggagawa sa Komunikasyon ng Pilipinas (MKP) to promote environmental and labor rights through a partnership launched on June 5.
Because workers often bear the brunt of pollution, waste, and climate impacts despite having little control over the systems that cause them, the partnership aims to increase workers’ awareness of environmental justice and its link to labor and human rights. To further underscore this interplay, it seeks to integrate zero waste frameworks and reuse and refill systems into institutional policies, promoting worker participation and shared responsibility in the process.
In this partnership, EWC commits to providing technical expertise and facilitating capacity building for workers to be immersed in zero waste and plastic-free initiatives.
“By uniting our advocacy for environmental justice with the enduring strength of organized labor, we are proving a fundamental truth: the fight for a healthier planet and the fight for dignified, safe livelihoods are deeply intertwined,” said Aileen Lucero, EWC National Coordinator.
Anj Aguilos, Project Lead of PFP, expressed her hopes to partner with more labor organizations so that plastic-free initiatives can be adopted in more workplaces. “We know very well how protecting workers’ rights and welfare would not be possible without protecting the environment as a whole, which is why partnerships like this are absolutely necessary,” she added.
MKP, for its part, takes on the Zero Waste and Plastic-Free Challenge by promoting and institutionalizing zero waste and reuse and refill practices through union-management collaboration to ensure long-term behavior change among workers.
“Kasama sa laban ng mga manggagawa ang protektahan ang kalikasan. Hindi ito ibang laban. Kung mayroon mang totoong environmentalista, iyon ay ang mga unyonista, dahil ang ginagawa lamang ng mga manggagawa ay proteksiyunan ang kanilang mga sarili, ang kapakanan ng bawat isa,” said Keo Concepcion, MKP President.
Renee Paulo Demetrio, Chairperson on Committee of Environment of MKP, also remarked how important it is to work together and advocate for environmental protection. “Mahalaga para sa MKP na makiisa sa mga adbokasiyang pangkalikasan sapagkat ang pangangalaga sa kalikasan ay pangangalaga rin sa kinabukasan ng komunidad at ng susunod na henerasyon,” he stated.
Carrying the slogan “Labor Justice is Environmental Justice: Choose Zero Waste, Choose Reuse!” EWC and MKP made the partnership official via a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signing event, held just in time for the celebration of World Environment Day.
Anj Aguilos, Project Lead of PFP, expressed her hopes to partner with more labor organizations so that plastic-free initiatives can be adopted in more workplaces. “We know very well how protecting workers’ rights and welfare would not be possible without protecting the environment as a whole, which is why partnerships like this are absolutely necessary,” she added.
MKP, for its part, takes on the Zero Waste and Plastic-Free Challenge by promoting and institutionalizing zero waste and reuse and refill practices through union-management collaboration to ensure long-term behavior change among workers.
“Kasama sa laban ng mga manggagawa ang protektahan ang kalikasan. Hindi ito ibang laban. Kung mayroon mang totoong environmentalista, iyon ay ang mga unyonista, dahil ang ginagawa lamang ng mga manggagawa ay proteksiyunan ang kanilang mga sarili, ang kapakanan ng bawat isa,” said Keo Concepcion, MKP President.
Renee Paulo Demetrio, Chairperson on Committee of Environment of MKP, also remarked how important it is to work together and advocate for environmental protection. “Mahalaga para sa MKP na makiisa sa mga adbokasiyang pangkalikasan sapagkat ang pangangalaga sa kalikasan ay pangangalaga rin sa kinabukasan ng komunidad at ng susunod na henerasyon,” he stated.
Carrying the slogan “Labor Justice is Environmental Justice: Choose Zero Waste, Choose Reuse!” EWC and MKP made the partnership official via a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signing event, held just in time for the celebration of World Environment Day.
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