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The first East Asian Trade Unions Forum reaffirmed the unity.

Published: 9 November 2012
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 The first UNI Apro East Asian Trade Unions Forum was held in Tokyo on 22-23 October, 2012.

110 delegates participated in the forum from Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong.



The forum started by re-acknowledging the current situations surrounding trade unions in each country, followed by such topics as labor management relations of service industry; current situation of trade union movement; promoting the participation of women and youth in trade union movement; and 12 years of UNI National Liaison Council and future challenges.



Christopher Ng, Regional Secretary of UNI Apro, gave a keynote speech titled "Globalization in ASEAN and East Asia". He gave a brief overview of the East Asian situation in terms of ASEAN and forecasted the future directions of the economy, politics and questioned how trade unions in East Asia should respond to it.



In his another speech on "Progress of UNI Liaison Councils and UNI Apro", actual developments of UNI-Liaison Councils in South East Asian and South Asian countries were reported and the decade efforts to unite affiliates under the umbrella of UNI were highlighted.



From Korean delegates, the severe situation was reported where gap between the haves and have-nots is expanding while business conglomerates have achieved rapid development.

The challenge of increasing non-regular workers was focused as a typical example of the unstable and fragile employment. The trade unions’ approach to demand compensation for the so-called “Emotional labor” was also reported.



In Taiwan the amendment of “Collective Agreement Act” has made workers easier to join trade unions and the bargaining potential of industrial unions is now increasing.



All Japanese affiliates made presentations on their current issues and challenges in each sector.



Kiyoshi Ochiai, Chairperson of UNI-LCJapan gave updated information on trade union movement in Japan. Participants pondered the meaning of his words, who lead UI ZENSEN (the current UA ZENSEN) as the President to expand the organization with more than 1.4 million members.



Lastly, Tomoyasu Kato, President of UNI Apro concluded the forum by underscoring “We often tend to be indifferent to the moves of other unions because we are from different sectors or companies. However, it is very important for us to be united and discuss variety of issues through the activities under a wider group like UNI Liaison Council at national level. Especially we should activate and stimulate the discussion within UNI having global network of trade unions.”



The first UNI Apro East Asian Trade Union Forum closed with the adoption of a Joint Declaration where trade unions in East Asia reaffirmed the solidarity and that the second forum will be held in Seoul in 2013.

Along with the slogan “Start Small, Grow Bigger,” UNI Apro will gradually make this forum bigger and more matured.



The Joint Declaration can be found at Related Files.

For more pictures, visit Flickr.