The impact of your solidarity in Laos: organising against exploitation!
In December, we asked you to contribute to the 2019 Festive Season Appeal in support of workers in Laos organising against exploitation.
Together with hundreds of union members and internationalists across Australia, you responded to the call, together we raised $17,000!
Thanks to your solidarity, our partner union in Laos, the Lao Federation of Trade Unions (LFTU), is using those funds to bolster its ability to organise workers in Laos’ changing economy.
Above: LFTU delegate, Kamphat, told us: “We have the union to protect us, so they can’t easily take advantage of us, because they know that we are the union.”
Since we asked Union Aid Abroad – APHEDA members and supporters to contribute to the appeal, the LFTU has been rolling out its campaign to organise private sector workers. Here are some of their achievements so far:
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- The LFTU has developed and implemented a national organising strategy to guide their campaigns in the private sector, and 9 district-level organising plans.
- Seven lead trainers have been supported to train other organisers in private sector organising.
- 25 district-level organisers have been trained in private sector organising.
- 329 new union members have joined the LFTU from private sector workplaces (more than 70% are women)
- 5 new workplace-level unions have been established.
- 8 new collective bargaining agreements have been negotiated by the LFTU. These agreements go beyond the minimum protections of the Lao labour code.
- 3 out-dated collective bargaining agreements have been improved by the LFTU, going beyond the minimum protections of the Lao labour code.
This is a strong start for the LFTU’s strategy to organise private sector workers. Over the life-time of the project, the LFTU will work to recruit more private sector workers, sign more collective bargaining agreements, and train more organisers.
As one LFTU union organiser, Kamphat, told us:
“We won’t stop here. We will recruit more and more members!”
Above: LFTU member, Kamphat, facilitates an organising meeting with other LFTU members.
Support the fight for global justice!
By becoming a member of Union Aid Abroad – APHEDA, you will be supporting unionists like Kamphat as they organise against exploitation in Laos and across the Global South. To help build the power of social movements and workers globally, join Union Aid Abroad – APHEDA!