Hi all,

I’m Stephen Day – I work at TEU and I do some design work for the UnionAID team from time to time.  This year I’ve decided to run the Rotorua Marathon. Rotorua Marathon is one complete circle of Lake Rotorua and is New Zealand’s most run, and walked, marathon. It’s also one of the hardest marathons in New Zealand.

I’m going to run for UnionAID, and I’m looking for your sponsorship. The marathon is 26 miles and is on 28 April 2012.

I’ve never run a marathon before, but I have done a bit of competitive running – all distances from 800 metres up to half-marathons.  However, as Kiwi olympic medalist Barry Magee once said, “Anyone can run twenty miles. It’s the next six that count.”

To make it fair, because I’m already a runner, I’ll only take people’s money if I finish in the top ten.  That will require me, first, to finish both the training and the race. Marathons are reputedly different from any other kind of race. Rob de Castella, winner 1983 World Marathon Championships, said “If you feel bad at 10 miles, you’re in trouble. If you feel bad at 20 miles, you’re normal. If you don’t feel bad at 26 miles, you’re abnormal.”

You can sponsor me by leaving a comment below or emailing me at stephenday19@gmail.com You can also follow my training progress online to see how (and where) I am going.

Money pledged so far = $817!

People who have pledged to sponsor Stephen for the Rotorua Marathon:

Latest pledges

​. . .and a few others who have contacted me anonymously by email.

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UnionAID Cookbook

Recipes from India and South East Asia

Limited edition – get your orders NOW!

UnionAID has compiled a set of fabulous Indian and South East Asian recipes and is publishing these in a small but perfectly formed book of easy to make and delicious recipes – a cookbook you will really use and treasure – as well as being the perfect gift for all those friends and rellies who really do already have it all!

Flavours of Solidarity are on sale at the highly affordable price of only $10.00 – plus $2 postage and packing if ordered online.

Order one for yourself and several more for gifts. All profits raised will go to the UnionAID Tamil Nadu project and each dollar raised for UnionAID will be matched by the Morgan Foundation so will be doubled in value!

Flavours of Solidarity is on sale from the Wellington CTU Office for $10.00 per copy, OR; complete the on-line order form below.

Payment can be made by cheque or by online banking. Details of how to pay are in the order acknowledgment message and book(s) will be sent out once payment has been received.

Order, or pre-order NOW, online for $12.00

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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

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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.

Vanuatu Workers Union members: (l to r) Abraham Sangul, Camille Anise, Helen Moise and Marie-Jeanne Barang

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

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The United Nations has claimed that co-operatives not only achieve the common goals of their members but also promote “poverty reduction, employment creation, empowerment of women and food security…” . Accordingly, they have declared next year as the International Year of Co-operatives.

So the Tamil Nadu Labour Union (TLU) is way ahead of the play. The focus of their work to date has been on participatory development, where Dalit (untouchable) and Tribal (indigenous) people are brought together so they can collectively identify their priorities and develop strategies to improve their lives. This first step has seen communities of more than 30,000 of the poorest and most oppressed people benefit from their union bargaining power. Building on this collective strength UnionAID is now funding a TLU project to set up five workers’ cooperatives. These will provide members with marketing and organisational skills to set them on a sustainable path to economic independence.

Helen Wilson

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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

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To gather this data a small survey was designed in collaboration with project directors in India. This covers demographic data and three measures which will identify changes to: a) daily income b) household indebtedness and c) school attendance for boys and girls. It was decided that these three ‘indicators’ would be a simple way to provide evidence of improvement in the lives of participants without making too much extra work for the project staff.

Because the majority of participants are illiterate the information is collected orally. The data is then entered onto the LimeSurvey database by staff in the Labour Union’s Madurai office. Twenty five surveys can be entered free each month and Karo has generously sponsored another 2000 extra entries. To date 528 surveys have been completed and data entered for agricultural workers and basket weavers who have signed up to the first two co-operatives.

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Mouth watering Indian and South Asian recipes: discover the delights of Burmese cookery. All ingredients available locally.

Only $10 from Wellington Moore Wilsons Fresh, Maranui Cafe , Queen Sally’s Diamond Deli or order online at:
unionaid.org.nz/2011/09/order-a-cookbook/

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