Reasserting Union Strength in Asia – Trade Unions in Transformation

Globalized markets and closing civic spaces in many Asian countries make maintaining labour power increasingly difficult and put pressure on workers and trade unions. Nonetheless, unions constantly establish new ways to reassert their power resources and remain relevant, even in the rapidly changing economies in the region.

In order to shift the narrative about trade unions away from the depiction as victims of globalization and instead show that unions in fact do have power, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) has gathered remarkable trade union success stories from all over the world. 

These success stories, their underlying strategies and future challenges were the subject of a conference held in Singapore by FES, bringing together members of Global Union Federations, trade unions and research organisations from Asia for them to share their personal experiences and discuss mutual challenges. Together, participants explored how to best use their power resources, how to cross the divide between the formal and informal sectors and how to face the digital economy.

Click here to see the full photo report from the “Trade Unions in Transformation” conference capturing some of the ideas on power resources and innovative ways of trade union action that were discussed.