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Only 20% of the population had some insurance cover against natural disasters when the earth quake and tsunami hit the Eastern Coast of Japan said Yutaka Seki at the opening of the 4^th UNI Apro Insurance Unions Network meeting held in Manila. Insurance is an invisible social good; however there is very little faith on insurance. Increasing social consciousness about the importance of insurance is a challenge for the industry, trade unions needs to take a lead to increase social consciousness about value of insurance; said Yutaka Seki, President of UNI Apro Finance. Insurance unions network meeting followed the UNI Apro Finance Steering group meeting on 6th May 2012.

Devastating floods, Fires in Australia has caused a negative impact on the insurance industry said Leon Carter National Secretary of FSU. Work intensification has created lot of unhappiness amongst the insurance industry staff following retrenchment of about 1000 employees. Some employees have experienced harassment from customer’s physical abuse while serving them and often have to put up unpaid OT. Leon insisted that networking with the insurance unions from Japan is a rewarding experience as there are many learning opportunities.

Banks are encroaching in to insurance industry targeting at numbers but have not been able to meet the customer needs and expectation said Garfield Cheng from Hong Kong Insurance & Finance Practitioners Solidarity Sector of RCCIGU. Garfield was a new comer to the network, and said their union is planning to expand the union activities to all employees in finance industry in Hong Kong.

V Narasimhan General Secretary of All India National Life Insurance Employees Federation said that the Private Insurance industry is growing fast in India and there is a large scope for trade union expansion. He highlighted issues faced by the employees in private insurance companies shared with the meeting the efforts put in by UNI DOC in India has paved the way for establishment of a union for independent agents in Hyderabad.

In Nepal FIEUN has been able to unionise employees in the Nepal Insurance Regulatory Authority, through them FIEUN manage to reach out to many private insurance companies and organize unions said Ganesh K C General Secretary. He solicited support from LIC unions in India to organize the LIC operations in India. Mustafa Kasim from NUCW Malaysia shared their experiences of organizing the RHB Insurance Company.

There are on-going views both for and against the MAS (Monitory Authority of Singapore) proposal for a fee based Financial Advisory services over the commission based model said Luke Hee Deputy General Secretary of SIEU Singapore. Luke presented a paper where he highlighted challenges faced by the Insurance industry in Singapore post GFC. Financial Advisory Industry Review introduced by the MAS and the increase of the numbers of PMET in the work force in insurance industry was a salient features that Luke shared at the meeting.

“Towards Creative Work” the efforts put in by FNIU Japan and the increase of union membership by 14000 in 2011 was the highlight of Masakazu Tahara’s presentation on introduction of FNIU one of the strongest union federation of non-life insurance unions in Japan. Junji Hayakawa DGS of Federation of Life Insurance unions Japan discussed about the social responsibility of trade unions and how trade unions needs to transform to win the trust and sympathy of society was the key focus of Hayakawa’s contribution to the meeting. Vice President Takizawa of Federation of Labour Insurance unions ROSAIROREN presented an overview of the Japanese Labour insurance unions operating as a cooperative to help the needy at times of crisis. He touch based as to how the union settled claims over US$ 1400 claims payments swiftly after the March 11 triple disaster in Japan.

Yutaka Seki President of UNI Apro Finance thanked all speakers for sharing valuable experiences enabling each other to understand the challenges faced by different unions in the region. Jayasri Priyalal Director of UNI Apro Finance proposed that the insurance unions need to interact frequently as such he proposed a SKYPE conference call to be arranged between the UNI Apro insurance union leaders at least once in six month. The network members supported the suggestion and Luke Hee DGS SIEU and UNI Apro Secretariat was tasked to initiate the conference call.