News

The UNI Apro Commerce Committee convened in Hanoi, Vietnam on the 22nd and 23rd of November. Bro Ian Blanthorn, President of UNI Apro Commerce chaired the two-day proceedings. He was joined by Bro Stuart Appelbaum, Acting President UNI Global Commerce and Bro Mathias Bolton, the new Head of Department UNI Commerce. 

Bro Ian highlighted in his opening remarks to the delegates the major challenges facing trade unions due to the anti-union sentiments in parts of our region. Despite these headwinds, he praised the partnership industrial relationship approach which is reaping encouraging results such as the many visible trade unions wins in UNI Apro. This includes the increasing membership rates in ASPEK Indonesia and UNI MLC Malaysia, and the significant in-roads made with Cambodian and Vietnamese workers. 

Bro Stuart expressed his delight to be in Hanoi and attending his first UNI Apro meeting. He shared about the concerns that the unions have on the recent election results in the USA. Nonetheless it is important that everyone in the same room shares a common vision to build respect and dignity for all workers.

Bro Mathias introduced himself as newly appointed Head of Department for Commerce in UNI HQ in Nyon. He was a senior Organiser in UNI for the past 4 years and had been focusing on Global Agreements in the Commerce sector. Given the different experience in implementing Global Agreements around the world, he is keen to explore new ways to improve their implementation.

Bro Christopher Ng, Regional Secretary UNI Apro, thanked the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour (VGCL) for hosting this meeting and noted the long and friendly relationship shared between UNI Apro and VGCL. Bro Christopher highlighted the need for the trade unions to be prepared and united in their response to the challenges of the regional economic integration processes and the impact of the 4th Industrial Revolution.

Bro Nguyen Van Ngang, Vice President of VGCL gave a brief overview of the challenges that trade unions faced brought on by the pace of mergers and acquisition in the commerce sectors. He also thanked UNI Apro Commerce for enhancing the efforts in building social dialogue on decent work in Vietnam.

Over the two days meeting, the committee reviewed the work done and adopted a new action program and also discussed about preparations for the upcoming 5th UNI Apro sector conferences in 2017. The meeting also provided UNI Apro affiliates and leaders of the Vietnam Commerce Network (VCN) the opportunity to interact with trade union leaders of VGCL. 

The discussions revolved about the future of work in the commerce industry and how unions can make use of Global Framework Agreements (GFA) to organise workers. VCN members shared on their efforts to organise workers and the challenges faced in protecting workers’ rights during the mergers and acquisitions of the commerce companies.