ASETUC/UNI Apro Participates in the ASEAN OSHNET Coordinating Board Meeting

The UNI Apro and the newly-founded ASEAN Service Employees Trade Union Council (ASETUC) were invited and participated in the 8th Coordinating Board Meeting of the ASEAN OSHNET, one of several officially-established ASEAN common institutions and one envisaged as a vehicle for translating the principle of regional cooperation and integration into effective action in the specific context of OSH.

ASEAN-OSHNET serves as a regional centre to collect and disseminate OSH information within ASEAN and to manage research and training for the improvement of working condition. The ASEAN Occupational Safety and Health Network (ASEAN-OSHNET) has its origins in the International Labour Organization (ILO) Programme for the Improvement of Working Condition and Environment (PIACT), which was launched in 1976. At an ILO seminar held in 1984 for the ASEAN countries, it was recommended to establish a regional centre to collect and disseminate information within ASEAN and to manage research and training for the improvement of working condition and environment. The idea to develop a project network in improving working condition was agreed by the First ASEAN Labour Technical Working Group Meeting held in October 1984 in Manila, and then proposal was approved by The 5th ASEAN Labour Minister Meeting held in Manila at the same time.

The UNI Apro/ASETUC was invited to make a presentation in the session on “Presentations from Collaboration Partner Agencies” along with the International Labour Organization (ILO), Japan International Center for Occupational Safety and Health (JICOSH/JISHA) and the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan.

Bros. Mohamed Shafie BP Mammal (UNI MLC Malaysia President and ASETUC Secretary General), R. Chandrasekaran (Coordinator for the ASETUC OSH Program), and Bobbit Librojo (Programmes Coordinator of the UNI-PLC Philippines) represented the ASETUC/UNI Apro in the Meeting held in Brunei on 23 - 25 April 2007.

In his presentation entitled “Social Dialogue and Partnership Approach to Promoting OSH in the Service Sector”, Bro. R. Chandrasekaran emphasized that the ASETUC/UNI Apro OSH Program is focused on building a culture of safety and health at the firm, industry, national and regional levels. He also said that the main strategy of the OSH promotion campaign for the service sector in the ASEAN region is to forge Partnerships with national and regional OSH agencies/organizations/ networks.

He identified the following areas of potential collaboration between the ASETUC/UNI Apro and the ASEAN OSHNET:

• common researches/studies on OSH issues in the service sector as well as the OSH implications of the radically changing world of work in the service sector;

• cooperation in OSH education, training and information dissemination at the ASEAN and individual country levels;

• promotion of social dialogue and tri-partite/multipartite social partnerships on OSH at the regional and individual country levels.

In the dialogue between the ASEAN OSHNET and the Panel of Collaboration Partner Agencies, Ir. Dr. Johari Basri, Executive Director of the ASEAN OSHNET Secretariat, pointed out the participation of the ASETUC/UNI Apro in the ASEAN OSHNET Coordinating Board Meeting is a historic first: it is the first time that a trade union organization was invited to and participated in the meeting of the ASEAN OSHNET CB. He commended the OSH Promotion Campaign of the UNI Apro/ASETUC and expressed the hope that closer cooperation between the ASEAN OSHNET and it’s individual country-members and the ASETUC/UNI Apro will be established. In response, Bro. Shafie thanked the ASEAN OSHNET for its openness to closer cooperation with the ASETUC/UNI Apro and reiterated its commitment to promote safety and health in the ASEAN region.