It is definitely on the upswing. 1996 is proving to be a banner year, with the BMP, the NCL and the KPUP at the forefront of this resurgence. There are some major changes taking place in the organisational structures of the working-class movement. Filipino workers are greatly handicapped in their struggle for their rights and welfare. Unionised labour is deeply fragmented.
Most federations remain under the stranglehold of mendicant and mediocre leaders.
The level of unionism has stagnated at the factory level. It cannot seem to advance to organising struggles along industrial lines. This is the single most difficult objective limitation. Even the progressive wing of the workers movement failed to upgrade the backwardness of trade unionism. After decades of labour organising, it failed as a motive force in the unionisation and the unification of labour.