The ASETUC is currently deeply involved with three major concerns: migrant workers’ welfare, occupational safety and health for service sector employees, the ASEAN Charter and services trade liberalization under the ASEAN Framework Agreement on Services (AFAS).
For migrant workers’ issue, ASETUC works closely with the Task Force on ASEAN Migrant Workers which seeks to develop a rights-based framework for the protection and promotion of the rights of migrant workers in line with ASEAN’s Vientianne Action Plan. One significant initiative of ASETUC member-unions is the cross-border union cooperation between the UNI Malaysian Liaison Council (UNI-MLC) and the ASPEK-Indonesia for the protection of Indonesian migrant workers in Malaysia. The UNI-MLC has set up help desks for Indonesian migrant workers in Malaysia and has since expanded their services to assist migrant workers from other Asian countries.

For occupational safety and health, the ASETUC/UNI Apro has initiated the ASEAN Partnership for OSH in the Service Sector with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH-Malaysia), the Occupational Safety and Health Center (OSHC-Philippines), and the National Institute of Labor Protection (NILP-Vietnam). With the NIOSH and the ASEAN OSHNET Secretariat, ASETUC convened a Conference for OSH in the Service Sector in Kuala Lumpur in March 2007. It was recently invited to participate as a collaborating partner agency in the Coordinating Board Meeting of the ASEAN Occupational Safety and Health Network (ASEAN-OSHNET), an ASEAN common institutions and envisaged as a vehicle for translating the principle of regional cooperation and integration into effective action in the specific context of OSH.
ASETUC and ASETUC member-unions participated in the civil society consultation process initiated by ASEAN Leaders and subsequently by the Eminent Persons Groups (EPG) tasked to draft the ASEAN Charter. ASETUC also participates in ASEAN forums such as the Second ASEAN Services Forum held on May 2007. ASETUC is closely monitoring developments in services sector liberalization under the ASEAN Framework Agreement on Services (AFAS) and related agreements.