Uploaded September 2019 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
What is CPM? The Center for People's Media (CPM) is a research a social research collaboration between PhD Student Daniel Rudin and media advocates in Manila. Gifts to this effort will help the UCSC-based Rudin develop tools to improve the CPM's citizen labor journalism.
Who is CPM? CPM is supervised by People's Media Advocacy, Asia, a Philippine-based NGO that has received support from the University for California Institute for Research in the Arts, the UCSC Blum Center, BigIdeas@Berkeley, Public Services International, Building and Woodworking International, the ASEAN Services Employees Trade Union Council, and the Union for Canada. In 2018, CPM partnered with the UCSC Everett Program to develop social media training modules. This year PMAA will collaborate with students at ICCT University in Rizal to develop its capacity to produce citizen media.
What is the impact? It is necessary to ensure safe work for all, yet the decline in unions has impacted working conditions and wages. ASEAN union density is at an all-time low, and contractual work proliferates. Due to non-compliance and a decline in permanent work, our theory of change posits that these problems must be met with strong civil society action. Despite their decline, Philippine trade unions are leading a campaign against precarious work. Nevertheless, these very unions fall short in their campaign due to their lack of capacity and inability to reach the general public. PMAA aims to "fill the gap" with a two-pronged solution.
Number one, PMAA has built up the Center for for People's Media (CPM) to act as a conduit between the general public and knowledgeable news and labor advocates. The CPM model consists of social news trainings, usually hosted by Philippine and ASEAN trade unions. We provide social news, digital tools, and train labor leaders and rank and file unionists in media skills. These trainings have been held in cities throughout the Philippines, Malaysia, and Cambodia, and usually result in social media teams that pursue advocacy, organization, and defense of labor laws in their workplace and regions. Our own social news intersects with the output of our trainees, who provide us with photos, press releases, and video reports.
Number two, we provide digital tools for the citizen journalist, giving them a voice through our social media platform and connecting them to organizations that can address or amplify their concerns. We receive personal messages and emails asking for advice on specific labor issues. We then connect these individuals directly with labor advocates within the scope of our network, and leverage our own network in the mainstream news to broadcast their concerns. In this way, CPM advocates for citizens working outside the borders of the labor movement or in the informal sector.
Tracking impact: To track social impact, we monitor participant success rates at contract negotiations, legal reform, labor violation reporting, and other civil society activity. In the past years, we have publicized management interference in the certification elections of a union at the Yokohama factory. A post on the extrajudicial killing of a labor leader reached over 80,000 viewers on Facebook. Our Facebook page has 33,000 members. We also assisted 300 terminated Pizza hut workers—we trained the workers, used our social news network, and leveraged our news media network, convincing CNN Philippines to cover the story. In days, the illegally terminated workers were returned to work.
What is CPM? The Center for People's Media (CPM) is a research a social research collaboration between PhD Student Daniel Rudin and media advocates in Manila. Gifts to this effort will help the UCSC-based Rudin develop tools to improve the CPM's citizen labor journalism.
Who is CPM? CPM is supervised by People's Media Advocacy, Asia, a Philippine-based NGO that has received support from the University for California Institute for Research in the Arts, the UCSC Blum Center, BigIdeas@Berkeley, Public Services International, Building and Woodworking International, the ASEAN Services Employees Trade Union Council, and the Union for Canada. In 2018, CPM partnered with the UCSC Everett Program to develop social media training modules. This year PMAA will collaborate with students at ICCT University in Rizal to develop its capacity to produce citizen media.
What is the impact? It is necessary to ensure safe work for all, yet the decline in unions has impacted working conditions and wages. ASEAN union density is at an all-time low, and contractual work proliferates. Due to non-compliance and a decline in permanent work, our theory of change posits that these problems must be met with strong civil society action. Despite their decline, Philippine trade unions are leading a campaign against precarious work. Nevertheless, these very unions fall short in their campaign due to their lack of capacity and inability to reach the general public. PMAA aims to "fill the gap" with a two-pronged solution.
Number one, PMAA has built up the Center for for People's Media (CPM) to act as a conduit between the general public and knowledgeable news and labor advocates. The CPM model consists of social news trainings, usually hosted by Philippine and ASEAN trade unions. We provide social news, digital tools, and train labor leaders and rank and file unionists in media skills. These trainings have been held in cities throughout the Philippines, Malaysia, and Cambodia, and usually result in social media teams that pursue advocacy, organization, and defense of labor laws in their workplace and regions. Our own social news intersects with the output of our trainees, who provide us with photos, press releases, and video reports.
Number two, we provide digital tools for the citizen journalist, giving them a voice through our social media platform and connecting them to organizations that can address or amplify their concerns. We receive personal messages and emails asking for advice on specific labor issues. We then connect these individuals directly with labor advocates within the scope of our network, and leverage our own network in the mainstream news to broadcast their concerns. In this way, CPM advocates for citizens working outside the borders of the labor movement or in the informal sector.
Tracking impact: To track social impact, we monitor participant success rates at contract negotiations, legal reform, labor violation reporting, and other civil society activity. In the past years, we have publicized management interference in the certification elections of a union at the Yokohama factory. A post on the extrajudicial killing of a labor leader reached over 80,000 viewers on Facebook. Our Facebook page has 33,000 members. We also assisted 300 terminated Pizza hut workers—we trained the workers, used our social news network, and leveraged our news media network, convincing CNN Philippines to cover the story. In days, the illegally terminated workers were returned to work.
