The Workers’ Assistance Center (WAC) was founded on November 30, 1995, in Rosario, Cavite, Philippines. The municipality of Rosario is home to the largest government-owned export processing zone in the country – the Cavite Economic Zone.
The WAC envisions a society that values the dignity of all individuals, including men, women, and those with diverse sexual orientations and gender identities; protects the environment, respects human rights, and fosters equality and total human development.
Its mission is to help initiate the formation of genuine workers’ organizations and unions in the economic zones of Cavite by assisting in the development of workers’ initiative and ability to strive for and attain their just and democratic rights and interests. Additionally, it aims to advocate for the promotion of workers’ rights and welfare and to solicit support for their cause.
The core program of the WAC is to help organize workers into unions or any form of organization/association they deem necessary to carry forward their rights and welfare as a means of empowering themselves. All other programs are support services for organizing, such as Campaigns and Alliance Building, Legal and Paralegal Assistance, Labor and Gender Education, Research, Documentation, Information, and Publication, and International Solidarity Work.