The sixth issue of Solidarity, the newsletter of the Unions Aotearoa International Development Trust, is available below. This issue introduces new projects in Sri Lanka and the Pacific, as well as updates on ongoing projects in Tamil Nadu and Mae Sot.

1. New Projects in Sri Lanka, Mae Sot and the Pacific
2. Worker co-operatives: Tamil Nadu Labour Union leads the way
3. Meeting our fundraising target!
4. Raffle ticket winners
5. Getting skills for work
6. Notes from the Field: Update on Mae Sot Project
7. Online database a first for Tamil Nadu project
8. Comment
9. UnionAID cookbook

UnionAID has had an active few months developing new project options.

A new project in Sri Lanka, starting in the new year, will establish a Women’s Centre in Eastern Sri Lanka from which two organisers will provide support and union organisation for more than 5,000 Tamil women workers in garment factories which have been established in this area previously under the control of the Tamil Tigers.

In Mae Sot we are funding an extension to our very successful occupational skills training centre, to include cooking and embroidery skills. We are also establishing a scholarship programme to enable twenty graduates from the FTUB high school to gain vocational skills training at the Thai Government vocational training college.

UnionAID is also working with partners in Vanuatu and Samoa on possible projects which will help them to better protect the interests of workers coming to New Zealand on the seasonal employment scheme, and to organise a union for workers in the private sector in Samoa.

Generous support for our fundraising this year has made these projects possible. So a sincere thanks to all of our supporters.

In Mae Sot on the Thai-Burma border, new migrants from Burma are learning valuable work skills thanks to the Occupational Training Centre set up by the Federation of Trade Unions of Burma (FTUB) with support from UnionAID.

Yin Yin and La Ka Prae Moo crossed the border in the hope of finding work in Thailand and have come to the training centre to learn the sewing skills they need to get jobs.

Yin Yin, who is from the Irrawaddy Delta region of Burma, said that life became hard after her village was hit by Cyclone Nargis and her family home was destroyed, so she decided to try to find a job in Thailand. She likes to sew and hopes to make a living by sewing when she returns to Burma. In the meantime she will get a job at a sewing factory in Thailand and save some money to take home.

La Ka Prae Moo comes from Karen state, where she said “it was very hard to survive”. Her family needed income, so she decided to come to Thailand in search of work. “My ambition is to save some money in Thailand for the next two years and then with my sewing skills and savings I will return to Burma to be a tailor.” She said that the sewing course was very useful, especially since it included learning how to sew details like collars and pockets.

As part of the course, the trainees learn about Thai labour laws and the role of workers’ organisations like the FTUB. The trainees are aware that employers don’t always follow the law and that workers’ organisations are there to help if there are problems. Yin Yin says that “learning about labour laws was good, but we don’t know yet what it will be like in practice, because we are new here”. As La Ka Prae Moo added, “if we have problems at work we know we can contact the trainer and also to the workers’ organisations.”

Nick Henry

• On track to exceed target of 350 trainees in twelve months
• All 297 trainees to date have obtained jobs
• High quality of training has been praised by trainees and employers
• Buildings all completed including accommodation for trainees and staff
• Vegetable gardens have been established and 200 kgs of white carrot and 40 kgs of pumpkin produced.
• A fish pond has been developed and the stock of 2000 fish will provide food for the centre.
• A pilot frog farming operation has proved successful.

UnionAid is planning a study tour to Mae Sot on the Thai-Burma border from the 23^rd to the 28^th January 2012

As well as visiting the new UnionAID Occupational Skills Training Centre the study tour will be a unique opportunity to talk to Burmese people on the border about their hopes and aspirations for a democratic Burma, to learn about international aid and development and the work of UnionAID partner the Federation of Trade Unions of Burma, and other groups fighting for a democratic Burma.

The study tour is designed for people with a genuine interest in international aid and development, and the Burmese situation. UnionAID is looking for people who will use the experience to learn, share and educate when they return home. Solidarity members of UnionAID will get priority.

Expressions of interest welcome.

For more information please download the programme and application form – Burma Study Tour or email: rossw@nzctu.org.nz

The programme has yet to be finalised and will depend on numbers. We will contact those who have expressed interest within the next month or two.

The new UnionAID skills training centre in Mae Sot is already a great success with all of the trainees obtaining work in local factories on completion of their training.

In addition to the first classroom (see Solidarity Summer 2011)  a second classroom, an office, and accommodation for both staff and trainees are being built.

The project has already made a difference to the lives of the young women trainees and their families. Employment gives them income and security and also enables them to remit money back to their families in Burma. It also reduces their vulnerability to human trafficking.

In reviewing the selection rules (for training) a decision has also been made to prioritize applicants with disabilities, are without family support in Mae Sot, or who have limited other opportunities because of low education levels.

There has been a lot of interest from local employers and it is likely that this interest and support will grow.

With our total funding of $NZ56,000, our project partner, the Federation of Trade Unions of Burma (FTUB) will build the complex of buildings, pay three staff, and provide food and accommodation for the staff and 350 trainees for a full year.

A classroom in Mae Sot

Building of our skills training centre for Burmese migrant workers in Mae Sot is well underway. The first classroom has been built and training has already begun.

Just before Christmas UnionAID received the exciting news that funding for the occupational training centre has been granted under the government’s new Sustainable Development Fund. This will enable us to proceed with phase 2 of the project in March.

By mid year the project buildings will include two classroom/workshops, an office, and accommodation for both staff and trainees.

With our total funding of $NZ56,000, our project partner, the Federation of Trade Unions of Burma (FTUB) will build the complex of buildings, pay three staff, and provide food and accommodation for the staff and 350 trainees for a full year.

These trainees are mainly young Burmese migrant women who will learn industrial knitting and sewing and will move on to work in the hundreds of clothing factories which have been established along the Thai-Burma border to take advantage of the cheap labour.

While many of these factories are sweatshops, the FTUB see this employment as a far better option than being forced into prostitution in Bangkok  or trafficked off to other Asian cities.

The other part of the UnionAID –FTUB project is organising to improve working conditions in the factories.

UnionAID has established the following priorities for our project work in 2011:

1. The FTUB Mae Sot project

The establishment of the skills training centre for Burmese migrant workers is our first priority for the year. Funding from the Government’s new Sustainable Development Fund will assist with this desperately needed facility.

2. The Tamil Nadu Labour Union project

Our existing 3 year project ends on 30 June 2011 and our strategy for this project is to work with our partners to develop:an economic development project which meets the Sustainable Development Fund criteria, based on the existing cooperatives, skills training and micro-enterprise work in the present project.a restructuring of the present union organising project so that it moves to self-funding, and to have a stronger focus on the inclusion of new Dalit (untouchable) communities in Tamil Nadu. This project would be funded out of our Solidarity Member donations and fundraising.

3. A Pacific project

A UnionAID Pacific project, with a skills development focus, and possibly a health/education component will be developed if a suitable union partner, opportunity and need is identified.

4. Burma young community leaders project (BYLP)

The BYLP now has 12 alumni and 2011 will see the third intake of six young Burmese students. This programme, which is funded by NZAid, and delivered in conjunction with Victoria University, focuses on English language and development studies to prepare the students for increased responsibilities in their organisations both inside and outside Burma. We intend to build a network of interested organisations to provide ongoing support to the graduates from our programme.

Kathryn Baldwin recently returned from working for six weeks as a volunteer with the UnionAID Project in Mae Sot. One of her strongest impressions was the lack of freedom or rights for the migrant workers from Burma. She is full of admiration for the commitment of the project leaders Min Lwin and Htwe Nge and the proactive nature of their work. Below she tells the story of visiting a typical factory and talking to one of the workers.

Kyaw, an ethnic Karen, arrived in Thailand seven years ago after working as a motorbike taxi driver in Burma. For the last four years he has been working at a knitting and sewing factory on the Thai Burma border.

Like many migrant workers Kyaw and many of his colleagues do not hold work permits.

To prevent these illegal workers from being arrested or deported back to Burma their employer bribes the Thai police. This 300 baht ($13 NZ) per employee is deducted from the employees’ wages. The 200 workers get paid on the number of garments they produce.

They typically make 12 garments each day which earns them a daily 150 baht ($7 NZ). Workers are required to work 8 am till midnight with an hour off for lunch and another hour for dinner. They work 7 days a week but on Sundays they finish at 5pm.

Kyaw’s working conditions are typical of the many migrant factory workers in Mae Sot. Many of them live on the factory site in overcrowded and appalling conditions.

Part of the work the FTUB does is working with employees, like Kyaw, to provide them with skills and knowledge to enable them to advocate for their employment rights and in turn improve their working conditions.