East Asia Finance Trade Unions Forum: A new milestone Towards Strengthening Solidarity

UNI Asia and Pacific’s first East Asia Finance Trade Unions Forum took place in Tokyo on 26 October 2023 with the theme – “Rising Together! Toward Fair Distribution and Work-style Reform in East Asia”.

The East Asian Trade Unions Forum was first launched in Tokyo in 2012 to provide a framework for cooperation among UNI affiliates as well as fostering closer relations with potential affiliates in the sub-region. The forums have served as a meaningful platform for building shared understanding and solidifying relationships that contribute to UNI APRO’s overall agenda of promoting workers’ interests and rights. 

The inaugural half-day forum holds a special moment for the finance trade unions from Korea, Japan, and Taiwan as they now join their fellow affiliates in the ICTS and Postal and Logistics sectors in convening their own sub-regional sector forum. This was made possible when the Taiwan Federation of Financial Unions (TFFU) joined the UNI Global Union three years ago. 

The Regional UNI APRO Finance Director Jayasri Priyalal in his closing remarks praised the finance affiliates for finally accomplishing the task of launching the East Asia Finance Forum, urged, “Our aim… is non-other than strengthening the voice of finance industry trade unions as a collective force to meet the unprecedented challenges that lie ahead of us.”

Representatives of the Korean, Japanese, and Taiwanese financial unions signed a Memorandum of Understanding to continue convening the East Asia Finance Trade Unions Forum on a regular basis. The signing was witnessed by the UNI Finance Head of Department, Angelo Di Cristo, UNI APRO Regional Secretary Rajendra Acharya, and the UNI APRO Finance Director.