Juan Cañizares Tan (October 10, 1922–September 8, 2005), known as Johnny Tan, was a Filipino trade union leader. Tan grew up in

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

, and attended the Ateneo de Manila High School. He began working closely with the Catholic priest Walter Hogan, and the two founded the Institute of Social Order in 1946, Tan becoming its secretary. The institute aimed to promote positive relations between workers and management. In 1950, Hogan and Tan decided to form a trade union federation, the Federation of Free Workers (FFW), with Tan becoming its president. It was soon followed by the Federation of Free Farmers. The FFW supported a strike at the

University of Santo Tomas The University of Santo Tomas (UST; ), officially the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, The Catholic University of the Philippines or colloquially as ''Ustê'' (), is a Private university, private Catholic school, Catholic researc ...

, this leading to Hogan being exiled, and Tan becoming the leading figure in the organisation. For their role in organizing unions, Tan and his colleagues were soon tagged as communists. He regularly represented the FFW at the

International Labour Organization The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is one of the firs ...

and came to international prominence. In 1963, he became general secretary of the

Brotherhood of Asian Trade Unionists The Brotherhood of Asian Trade Unions (BATU) was a federation bringing together trade unionists in Asia. History The federation was established on 20 December 1963, at a conference in Manila. It was a regional federation of the International Fede ...

, in 1974 becoming its president. In 1981, he was also elected as the president of the

World Confederation of Labour The World Confederation of Labour (WCL) was an international labour organization founded in 1920 and based in Europe. Fascist governments of the 1930s repressed the federation and imprisoned many of its leaders, limiting operations until the end o ...

, serving until 1989. In the early 1990s,

Fidel Ramos Fidel Valdez Ramos (; March 18, 1928 – July 31, 2022), popularly known as FVR, was a Filipino general and politician who served as the 12th president of the Philippines from 1992 to 1998. He was the only career military officer to reached ...

asked Tan to become Secretary of Labor and Employment, but Tan believed this would prevent him from taking an independent position. In 1994, he agreed to become chair of the Social Security System. In 1998, Tan suffered a stroke, standing down from his role in the FFW, and switching to become commissioner of the Social Security System. He remained president of the Brotherhood of Asian Trade Unionists, serving until his death in 2005.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tan, Johnny 1922 births 2005 deaths People from Manila Filipino Roman Catholics Ateneo de Manila University alumni Distributism Filipino trade union leaders Filipino anti-communists Philippine anti-capitalists Heads of government-owned and controlled corporations of the Philippines Ramos administration personnel