The School of Labor and Industrial Relations of the University of the Philippines (UP SOLAIR) is the premier, stand-alone higher educational institution in the field of industrial relations and human resource development in the Philippines and Southeast Asia. UP SOLAIR provides quality and timely industrial relations/human resource instruction, research, and extension/public services that promote the general empowerment of workers and their organizations, and the democratization and humanization of work and work relations.

As a graduate school, SOLAIR’s ladderized academic programme offers a Diploma in Industrial Relations and a Master of Industrial Relations. The masteral programme offers four areas of specialization: Labor-Management Relations, Human Resource Development, Labor Policy and Administration, and Comparative Industrial Relations. Students of the Master of Industrial Relations programme can choose between two tracks—the Comprehensive Examination Track and the Thesis Track.

UP SOLAIR’s research and extension agenda includes the following topics/themes: labor-management relations; Industry 4.0, digital labor and platform-based work, and the future of work and industrial relations; occupational safety and health; labor market governance, social security, and wage policy; trade unions, workers’ organizations, and social movements; unregulated work, non-standard employment, and informal employment; human resource management and organizational development; youth employment and child labor; discrimination and harassment in the workplace; globalization, work, and migration; and climate change, just transition, and decent work. Research and extension activities are implemented through the School’s three Centers—the Center for Labor Justice, the Center for Industry Productivity and Competitiveness, and the Center for Labor and Grassroots Initiatives.

UP SOLAIR traces its roots to the Labor Education Center (LEC), which was established in 1954. The LEC was established to assist the fledgling labor movement at the time by providing training on the various aspects of trade union organizing and administration. After only four years of operation, LEC expanded its services to countries in Asia to fill in the gap in labor education among Asian trade unions. The Center was subsequently renamed the Asian Labor Education Center (ALEC) in 1958 and became the leading regional training institution for Asian trade union leaders. In 1975, ALEC transitioned into offering graduate studies and changed its name to the Institute of Industrial Relations (IIR). In 1988, the Institute was renamed the School of Labor and Industrial Relations.