The Asia-Pacific region grows to encompass 2.2 billion workers—and a number like this can definitely shape the future of economies in the region. For union and workers, the question at hand is what power means for them?
At a majority, 65% of these billions of people belong to the informal economy—street vendors in Delhi, musicians from the Philippines, tourism workers in Bangkok—Asia is the home of the world’s largest informal economy workers. This huge majority will only get bigger, with the rise of informalization and digitalization, leaving unions in Asia a more daunting task to mount efforts to collectively bargain for fair wages and just working conditions. Adding on to this megatrends are the devastating trilemma of the climate crisis, widening gender divides, and increasing wealth inequality—these have placed further pressure on long-fought labor victories. A call for new strategies to help workers reclaim their influence is imperative. This is what the Power Resource Approach (PRA) responds directly to.
The PRA is an essential framework that equips unions and workers with the ability to identify their collective capacities and reshape systems in ways that benefit both workers and the future of work. This was the core focus of a recent workshop hosted by FES Nepal and organized by the Regional Trade Union and Future of Work Programme, led by FES Philippines. Twenty union and workers’ organizations from across the Asia-Pacific region participated.
Following successful PRA workshops in Nairobi and Buenos Aires, this year marked Asia’s turn to explore the approach. “The PRA is a union-friendly tool that helps workers regain and expand their power,” said Sarangua, FES Mongolia Trade Union Coordinator. The workshop’s success stemmed from the exchange of case studies across the region, showcasing how workers can tap into their available power resources to negotiate better working conditions and bolster their influence in society.
The regional platform achieved two significant outcomes through this workshop: (1) the creation of a toolkit to help unions claim their power, and (2) the formation of a network of leaders ready to shape the future of work in Asia-Pacific. Roohi Kashan from the All Pakistan Labour Federation further emphasized the PRA’s inclusivity, stating, “The PRA introduces a gendered perspective on power, offering new, gender-inclusive solutions.”
From Pakistan to Mongolia, workers now have access to a roadmap that will guide them through these challenging times. With the PRA, unions can collectively strengthen their power and effectively advocate for the changes needed to improve working conditions and secure a just future for all.
Interested to learn more? Visit the toolkit: click below!
We gather case studies across the region from the exchange at PRA Workshop here. Let's explore how workers in each country can tap into their available power resources to negotiate better working conditions and bolster their influence in society.
In Bangladesh, the employment landscape is heavily skewed towards the informal sector, particularly affecting youth who often find themselves in precarious and unregulated jobs. The transport sector, a significant part of this informal economy, is a key example where millions of light vehicle drivers operate under conditions lacking formal protections and regulations. In metropolitan areas of Bangladesh, the rise of platform-based services like Uber, Pathao, Food Panda, Sohoj Food, and Daraz signifies a shift towards more organized, albeit still informal, employment models. These platforms offer new opportunities but also introduce their own set of challenges.
The platform-based gig workforce in India is fast expanding. As per NITI Aayog* Report of 2021, this sector employs around 7.7 million workers. In Telangana, there are around 0.45 million gig workers associated with major companies like Ola, Uber, Swiggy, Zomato, Blinkit, Urban Company, and others. The employment is devoid of employer-employee relationship coupled with violation of workers’ rights – prolonged working hours, irregular income, lack of social security / health and safety benefits as well as arbitrary commissions charged by aggregators. The Telangana Gig and Platform Workers Union (TGPWU) has anchored its work on Organising, Educating and Campaigning for labour legislation to regulate working conditions in this sector.
*Government think tank
The case involves negotiating a collective agreement for the Cashmere branch in collaboration with the Mongolian Industry Trade Union Federation, targeting the five largest private companies in Mongolia. The rapidly growing Cashmere industry faces challenges such as fluctuating wages, unstable workforce, lack of skilled workers, and insufficient training opportunities, highlighting the importance of improving labor conditions, promoting sustainable production, and educating workers on their rights and collective bargaining. The project aims to increase union membership, facilitate discussions on industry implications for society, and enhance awareness of labor rights and collective bargaining among workers in the Cashmere industry.
This case study aims to explore effective strategies for organizing and managing street vendors in Nepal’s urban centers. Street vendors have become an important part of the urban economy as it not only provides economic opportunities but also empowers women through economic independence. However, unregulated street vending can also lead to issues such as encroachment, waste management problems, and concerns over food safety. Additionally, street vendors often face exclusion from state-provided facilities. The local union is campaigning to address these challenges by implementing a registration system for street vendors and integrating them into the permanent markets.
The All Pakistan WAPDA Hydro Electric Workers Union (APWHEWU) is campaigning against the government's privatization of state-owned electricity producers, driven by agreements with international financial institutions. Leveraging its structural, institutional, associational, and societal power, the union seeks to protect jobs and public ownership through nationwide strikes and dialogues. With 130,000 members and strong social alliances, APWHEWU aims to unite labor forces and political movements in defense of workers' rights and public services.
The informal economy of the country has grown significantly, especially during the pandemic, due to the rise of app-based or platform-based workers where majority are comprised of food and transport riders for big platforms such as Food Panda, Grab, Angkas, and Move It. This situation has raised questions about their welfare, as company operations classify them as non-employees. Although some progress has been made in local courts, which have ruled on employer-employee relationships in specific cases, the industry's growth continues to exacerbate the precariousness of work for these workers.
Here are two case studies from South Korea.
The first case discusses how the Korean Graduate Employee Union (KGEU) aims to make the universities recognize their graduate students who do part-time work with the universities as research workers. This is a case of their unionization effort and their journey to be recognized as workers in their own university.
The second case discusses how migrant workers in South Korea, especially under the Employment Permit System (EPS), face severe restrictions, including the inability to change jobs without employer consent, lower wages, higher industrial accident rates, and poor living conditions. Addressing these issues is crucial for ensuring equal rights and fair treatment for all workers.
Thailand is one of the world's leading travel destinations, known for its vibrant nightlife scene and diverse entertainment. Despite significant contributions to the country’s economy, Thai musicians and night workers are often overlooked and severely affected by the changing nature of work, such as the growing gig economy, digital transformation, and the rise of AI and automation. Combined with multiple crises like the pandemic, these challenges have resulted in job insecurity, unstable income, and poor working conditions. Due to the lack of legal recognition and unclear employment status, they are also excluded from fundamental benefits, social protection, and rights, including the rights to organize and bargain, under the current Thai labour laws, which are yet to meet international labour standards.
This site uses third-party website tracking technologies to provide and continually improve our services, and to display advertisements according to users' interests. I agree and may revoke or change my consent at any time with effect for the future.
These technologies are required to activate the core functionality of the website.
This is an self hosted web analytics platform.
Data Purposes
This list represents the purposes of the data collection and processing.
Technologies Used
Data Collected
This list represents all (personal) data that is collected by or through the use of this service.
Legal Basis
In the following the required legal basis for the processing of data is listed.
Retention Period
The retention period is the time span the collected data is saved for the processing purposes. The data needs to be deleted as soon as it is no longer needed for the stated processing purposes.
The data will be deleted as soon as they are no longer needed for the processing purposes.
These technologies enable us to analyse the use of the website in order to measure and improve performance.
This is a video player service.
Processing Company
Google Ireland Limited
Google Building Gordon House, 4 Barrow St, Dublin, D04 E5W5, Ireland
Location of Processing
European Union
Data Recipients
Data Protection Officer of Processing Company
Below you can find the email address of the data protection officer of the processing company.
https://support.google.com/policies/contact/general_privacy_form
Transfer to Third Countries
This service may forward the collected data to a different country. Please note that this service might transfer the data to a country without the required data protection standards. If the data is transferred to the USA, there is a risk that your data can be processed by US authorities, for control and surveillance measures, possibly without legal remedies. Below you can find a list of countries to which the data is being transferred. For more information regarding safeguards please refer to the website provider’s privacy policy or contact the website provider directly.
Worldwide
Click here to read the privacy policy of the data processor
https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en
Click here to opt out from this processor across all domains
https://safety.google/privacy/privacy-controls/
Click here to read the cookie policy of the data processor
https://policies.google.com/technologies/cookies?hl=en
Storage Information
Below you can see the longest potential duration for storage on a device, as set when using the cookie method of storage and if there are any other methods used.
This service uses different means of storing information on a user’s device as listed below.
This cookie stores your preferences and other information, in particular preferred language, how many search results you wish to be shown on your page, and whether or not you wish to have Google’s SafeSearch filter turned on.
This cookie measures your bandwidth to determine whether you get the new player interface or the old.
This cookie increments the views counter on the YouTube video.
This is set on pages with embedded YouTube video.
This is a service for displaying video content.
Vimeo LLC
555 West 18th Street, New York, New York 10011, United States of America
United States of America
Privacy(at)vimeo.com
https://vimeo.com/privacy
https://vimeo.com/cookie_policy
This cookie is used in conjunction with a video player. If the visitor is interrupted while viewing video content, the cookie remembers where to start the video when the visitor reloads the video.
An indicator of if the visitor has ever logged in.
Registers a unique ID that is used by Vimeo.
Saves the user's preferences when playing embedded videos from Vimeo.
Set after a user's first upload.
This is an integrated map service.
Gordon House, 4 Barrow St, Dublin 4, Ireland
https://support.google.com/policies/troubleshooter/7575787?hl=en
United States of America,Singapore,Taiwan,Chile
http://www.google.com/intl/de/policies/privacy/