News

The UNI Apro Post and Logistics Committee meeting was held on 11-12 December 2012, in Bangkok, Thailand. 33 people participated the meeting, including secretariat and interpreters.



Highlights of the meeting were 1) CWU Australia, which had taken distance from UNI Apro for a long time, participated to the meeting, 2) an observer from Myanmar Post, who is experiencing democratization of the country, participated in the meeting, 3) Linfox union, representing Logistics sector in Indonesia, participated in the meeting, etc. Bro. Usuki, President of UNI Apro Post and Logistics, was unfortunately unable to attend due to upcoming election campaigns in Japan. Sis. Terajima explained his reason and said that Bro. Usuki was sorry for that. Subsequently, Vice Presidents representing each sub-region chaired the meeting. They include Bro. Chiang from CPWU Taiwan, Sis. Hue from VNUPTW Vietnam, and Bro. Theagarajan from FNPO India.



At the opening, Bro. Christopher Ng, UNI Apro Regional Secretary, announced the establishment of ASEAN Community around the corner. At the same time, he welcomed representatives of CWU, Australia, and Myanmer Post. Bro. Somchai, APPU Director, attended the meeting as a guest speaker. He explained the role and the position of APPU in globalized postal market, especially Asia and Pacific Region. The session was followed by discussions on themes such as Postal reform-Current situation of Asia Pacific Region, Organizing, Regional economic integration and postal services, Innovation, Plan of Activities.



Sis. May June reported that Myanmar Post, a state department, is in the process of becoming an independent company within 2 years. Its basic tendency, i.e. mail volume is going down and Myanmar Post must find alternative services to fill the loss. When asked about the necessity of trade unions, May June said that it is impossible to consider unions because employers and employees are completely unaware of the concept of unions. Myanmar was under the military regime for almost 50 years. Bro. Christopher responded by stressing the way a la ASEAN.



Reports on Japan, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Mongolia, Laos, Australia, Indonesia, Taiwan, India, Vietnam, Singapore, and Nepal were presented. Bro. Ito, UNI Apro Post and Logistics Director, stressed that we have to concentrate in organizing CWU Australia and setting up postal workers union in Myanmar. Bro. Kurihara from JPGU, who was stationed in UNI HQ, and Bro. DeMatteo, Head of UNI Post and Logistics, sometimes intervened the meeting to stress that UNI Post and Logistics has one goal for the future. “We have to overcome the difficulties and reach the victory at the end.”



Almost all participants also attended the APPU/ UNI Apro Joint seminar, held on 13-14 December, and the SEWU-THP seminar, which was assisted by JPGU and held on 15-16 December. Participants studied postal matters in Thailand and contributed to the development of SEWU-THP. Everyone enjoyed Ayutthaya on the last day and thanked SEWU-THP for arranging the tour, dinner, seminar, and post office tour.