Where will the conference be held?

The conference will take place in Quezon City, PHL.

What is the format of the conference?

The conference is an international gathering, suggesting a multi-day event with various sessions and presentations.

The 17th Global Labour University International Conference

Name: The 17th Global Labour University International Conference
Start: 2026-12-07T00:00:00Z
End: 2026-12-09T00:00:00Z
Location: Quezon City

Dec 7–9, 2026Quezon City, PhilippinesIn-person

Registration open

The 17th Global Labour University International Conference, hosted in Quezon City, PHL, convenes scholars, practitioners, and policymakers to address critical issues facing the global labor movement. This gathering serves as a vital platform for interdisciplinary dialogue, fostering a deeper understanding of contemporary challenges and opportunities in the world of work. Participants will engage in discussions ranging from the future of work and technological transformations to labor rights, social protection, and sustainable development. The conference aims to bridge academic research with practical insights, facilitating the development of innovative strategies for promoting decent work and social justice worldwide.

Committees & topics

Topics
Labour in a Changing Geopolitical World · Confronting Rising Authoritarianism · Polycrisis and Economic Instability · Ecological Crisis and Labour

Why it matters

This conference holds significant importance for several reasons. Firstly, it provides a crucial forum for examining the evolving landscape of labor in an increasingly interconnected world. As economies globalize and technology advances, the nature of work, employment relationships, and worker protections are undergoing profound shifts. Understanding these dynamics is essential for effective policymaking and advocacy.

Secondly, the event's location in PHL highlights the unique labor challenges and opportunities present in Asia, a region characterized by rapid economic growth alongside persistent issues of informal employment, migration, and precarious work. The insights generated here can inform regional and global strategies for equitable development. Finally, by bringing together diverse stakeholders, the conference facilitates the exchange of ideas and best practices, strengthening the collective capacity to address complex labor issues and advance the rights and well-being of workers globally.

How to prepare

For those preparing to engage with the themes of the 17th Global Labour University International Conference, a multifaceted approach is recommended. Begin by conducting a thorough stakeholder mapping exercise, as outlined in the 'What Is Stakeholder Mapping?' and 'Stakeholder Mapping Workshop' lessons. This will help identify key actors, their interests, and potential areas of influence within the global labor landscape.

Next, delve into 'Dynamic Analysis' to understand the forces shaping the future of work, including technological advancements, demographic shifts, and geopolitical trends. Consider the 'Hidden Stakeholders' who may not be immediately visible but whose interests significantly impact labor outcomes. Finally, review 'Engagement Strategies' to prepare for constructive dialogue and collaboration with diverse participants, ensuring that your contributions are impactful and well-received.

Country perspectives

Where the most-relevant 4 countries stand on the core issues in play. Click through for the full country profile.

Philippines

As the host nation, PHL is a focal point for discussions on labor migration, informal sector employment, and the impact of economic development on worker rights in Southeast Asia.

Role in topic

PHL's experience with a large overseas workforce and a significant informal economy makes it a critical case study for understanding contemporary labor challenges and policy responses in a developing economy context.

United States

The USA's perspective often centers on the future of work, technological disruption, and the role of unions in a post-industrial economy.

Role in topic

The USA contributes to discussions on labor market innovation, the gig economy, and the policy implications of automation, often influencing global labor standards through its economic and political leverage.

Germany

Germany typically emphasizes social partnership models, vocational training, and the integration of labor concerns into sustainable economic policies.

Role in topic

Germany's dual education system and strong co-determination practices offer valuable insights into models for worker participation and skill development, particularly relevant for discussions on industrial relations and workforce adaptation.

India

India's perspective often highlights the challenges of a vast informal sector, youth employment, and the complexities of labor law reform in a rapidly growing economy.

Role in topic

India provides a crucial lens for examining the intersection of development, demographic dividends, and the need for robust social protection systems for a large and diverse workforce.

Topics & background

The background behind each topic and the actors that shape it.

Labour in a Changing Geopolitical World

The post-Cold War consensus that anchored global labour markets — open trade, integrated supply chains, and a presumed convergence toward liberal market democracy — has unraveled over the past decade. The 2008 financial crisis exposed the fragility of finance-led globalisation, while the US-China trade war launched in 2018, the COVID-19 supply shock, and Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine accelerated a shift toward economic nationalism, industrial policy, and 'friend-shoring.' The US Inflation Reduction Act and CHIPS Act, the EU's Green Deal Industrial Plan, and China's Made in China 2025 strategy all reflect a new state-led competition for strategic industries — with profound consequences for where work is created, how wages are set, and which workers bear the costs of transition. For labour, this geopolitical realignment is double-edged. Reshoring and industrial policy have revived discussion of 'good jobs' and unionisation in advanced economies, exemplified by the 2023 UAW strikes and US National Labor Relations Board activism. Yet they have also weakened multilateral labour standards, sidelined the ILO's Decent Work agenda in trade negotiations, and exposed workers in developing economies — particularly in textiles, electronics, and critical minerals — to abrupt shifts in demand. Migrant workers, who number over 169 million globally according to the ILO, sit at the sharp end of tightening borders even as destination economies face structural labour shortages. The core dispute before this committee is whether labour movements and states can build a new internationalism capable of binding industrial policy to enforceable labour rights, or whether the fragmentation of the global economy will entrench a race between blocs that ultimately weakens worker power everywhere.

Key players

Confronting Rising Authoritarianism

Independent indices including V-Dem, Freedom House, and the International IDEA Global State of Democracy report have documented nearly two decades of democratic backsliding, with V-Dem's 2024 report finding that the share of the world's population living in autocratising countries has reached its highest level since the 1970s. The pattern spans consolidated democracies experiencing illiberal turns (Hungary, the United States under contested institutional norms, India's narrowing civic space), hybrid regimes shifting further toward personalist rule (Turkey, Tunisia), and entrenched authoritarian powers (Russia, China, Belarus) projecting influence abroad through disinformation, transnational repression, and economic coercion. For labour, authoritarianism is not an abstract political concern but an existential one. The ITUC Global Rights Index has recorded steady deterioration in the rights to strike, bargain collectively, and form unions; in 2024 it found that workers experienced violations of free speech and assembly in 87% of countries surveyed. Independent unions have been banned or absorbed in Belarus and Russia, sharply restricted in Hong Kong following the 2020 National Security Law, and harassed in Turkey, Iran, and Myanmar following the 2021 coup. Labour journalists, occupational health advocates, and migrant-worker organisers have been particular targets. Conversely, mass labour mobilisations — from Iran's 2022–23 protests to South Korea's 2024 general strike against martial law — have shown that organised workers remain among the most durable counterweights to authoritarian consolidation. The committee must grapple with how the international labour movement, ILO supervisory mechanisms, and democratic states can defend civic space and trade-union freedoms without succumbing to either selective outrage or great-power instrumentalisation of the human-rights agenda.

Key players

Polycrisis and Economic Instability

The term 'polycrisis,' popularised by historian Adam Tooze and adopted by the World Economic Forum's Global Risks Report, captures the way the 2020s have layered overlapping shocks: the COVID-19 pandemic, the inflation surge of 2021–23, the war in Ukraine and resulting energy crisis, the Gaza war and Red Sea shipping disruptions, climate-driven disasters, and a developing-country debt crisis affecting more than half of low-income countries according to the IMF and World Bank. The post-2008 macroeconomic playbook — ultra-loose monetary policy combined with fiscal restraint — has given way to higher interest rates, fiscal stress, and renewed concern over financial stability following the 2023 collapses of Silicon Valley Bank and Credit Suisse. These shocks have not been distributed evenly. UNCTAD and the IMF have documented that net capital flows to developing economies turned negative in 2022 for the first time in decades, while debt service now exceeds combined health and education spending in dozens of countries. The G20 Common Framework for debt restructuring, launched in 2020, has produced only limited results for Zambia, Ghana, and Chad, prompting calls from the Bridgetown Initiative, the African Union, and the UN Secretary-General for deeper reform of the international financial architecture, including at the 2025 Financing for Development conference (FfD4) in Seville. Labour bears the adjustment costs through wage suppression, public-sector austerity, informalisation, and the erosion of social protection coverage, which the ILO estimates still excludes more than half the world's population. The committee's task is to identify how labour voice can be embedded in the emerging architecture of crisis response — from sovereign debt workouts and IMF conditionality to industrial policy and just transition financing — rather than being treated as a residual.

Key players

Ecological Crisis and Labour

The IPCC's Sixth Assessment Report (2021–23) confirmed that the world is on track to breach 1.5°C of warming within the 2030s under current policies, with cascading consequences for biodiversity, water systems, and human habitability. The 2023 UAE Consensus at COP28 included the first explicit call to transition away from fossil fuels, but pledged finance for adaptation and loss-and-damage remains far below the trillions UNCTAD and the UNFCCC Standing Committee on Finance estimate are needed. For workers, the ecological crisis is simultaneously a health-and-safety emergency — the ILO estimates 2.4 billion workers are exposed to excessive heat — a question of livelihoods in carbon-intensive sectors, and an opportunity in the renewable, care, and circular-economy industries projected to generate tens of millions of jobs. The concept of 'just transition,' originally developed by US oil and chemical workers' leader Tony Mazzocchi in the 1990s, has been adopted by the ILO (2015 Guidelines), incorporated into the Paris Agreement preamble, and operationalised through Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETPs) with South Africa, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Senegal. Yet implementation has been contentious: the South African JETP has faced criticism over financing terms and the pace of coal community support, while EU climate policies have triggered backlash from farmers and transport workers. At the same time, climate-driven displacement — from the Horn of Africa drought to Pakistan's 2022 floods — is reshaping migration patterns and informal labour markets. The core question for this committee is whether the green transition will be financed and governed in ways that genuinely centre workers and affected communities, or whether decarbonisation will replicate the inequalities of the fossil economy it seeks to replace.

Key players

Resources

News, lessons, and country profiles to prep for The 17th Global Labour University International Conference.

Recent reporting to ground your prep

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Trump's Economic Reset

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Lessons

Bite-sized lessons to build the basics

Hidden Stakeholders

Engagement Strategies

Dynamic Analysis

Stakeholder Mapping Workshop

Courses

Guided courses that go deeper on the topic

Advanced Negotiation

Multilateral Negotiation

Policy Brief Writing

Conflict Resolution

The states in play, with the data that shapes their stance

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Philippines December 2026

By committee

Frequently asked questions

The 17th Global Labour University International Conference

Dec 7–9, 2026Quezon City, PhilippinesIn-person

Registration open

Committees & topics

Topics
Labour in a Changing Geopolitical World · Confronting Rising Authoritarianism · Polycrisis and Economic Instability · Ecological Crisis and Labour

Why it matters

How to prepare

Country perspectives

Where the most-relevant 4 countries stand on the core issues in play. Click through for the full country profile.

Philippines

As the host nation, PHL is a focal point for discussions on labor migration, informal sector employment, and the impact of economic development on worker rights in Southeast Asia.

Role in topic

United States

The USA's perspective often centers on the future of work, technological disruption, and the role of unions in a post-industrial economy.

Role in topic

Germany

Germany typically emphasizes social partnership models, vocational training, and the integration of labor concerns into sustainable economic policies.

Role in topic

India

India's perspective often highlights the challenges of a vast informal sector, youth employment, and the complexities of labor law reform in a rapidly growing economy.

Role in topic

India provides a crucial lens for examining the intersection of development, demographic dividends, and the need for robust social protection systems for a large and diverse workforce.