Across the Asia–Pacific and beyond, workers and grassroots communities have shown once again that the most powerful and enduring change is built from the ground up. This year, Union Aid Abroad–APHEDA’s partners led campaigns that strengthened labour rights, advanced gender equality, addressed climate impacts for workers, expanded community resilience, and pushed back against exploitation and authoritarianism. Together, they demonstrate a simple truth: when people organise collectively, they win.
Unions winning big from coalfields to global supply chains
One of the most significant breakthroughs this year came from Indonesia, where union partners KSPI and KSBSI secured three new collective bargaining agreements with coal companies in East Kalimantan. This is the first time Indonesian unions have embedded Just Transition principles into collective bargaining—and one of the first such examples globally. It sends a powerful signal: workers must not be left behind as economies shift away from fossil fuels, and unions are essential to shaping that transition. These agreements establish bipartite Just Transition committees, ensure workers receive advance notice if coal operations close, and secure employer-supported skills training so workers can transition safely into new industries. The clauses also commit unions and companies to jointly address climate mitigation, adaptation, and improved occupational health and safety.
This milestone places Indonesian unions at the forefront of the global Just Transition movement and demonstrates the essential role of organised workers in shaping fair and sustainable change.
In the Philippines, worker power delivered results on the international stage. The global campaign supporting garment workers supplying the global label Lululemon showed what workers can achieve when local union organising meets international solidarity. Through coordinated demonstrations, advocacy, and public exposure of conditions in supplier factories, the movement secured commitments from employers to address labour violations and begin constructive dialogue. It was a powerful example of the trade union movement’s capacity to call for global supply chain accountability.
These wins reflect a wider truth: when unions fight together, from Cebu to Brisbane, corporations are forced to listen.
Undervalued work gains visibility
In Timor-Leste, the labour movement grew stronger and more representative than ever. A major milestone was the creation of the country’s first domestic workers union: Sindikatu Trabalhadores Domestico Timor Leste (STD-TL). This breakthrough gives long-invisible workers –mostly women performing essential but undervalued labour– formal representation for the first time in Timor-Leste’s history. The union is already engaging members, mapping workplace issues, and preparing to negotiate fair conditions for one of the nation’s largest workforces.
The rural workforce also grew in strength with the establishment of Uniaun Agricultura Municipio Viqueque (UAMV), Timor-Leste’s sixth municipal farmers union. This expansion reflects the momentum of farmer organising across the country and the determination of rural workers to secure better livelihoods, access support services, and influence agricultural policy.
Growing union power
Across Cambodia, 617 workers completed training in workplace health and safety, gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH), leadership, and collective bargaining. These skills are now feeding directly into organising drives and stronger workplace representation.
While still in early stages, Laos made important progress in expanding worker representation in the private sector. Organisers were trained through a specialist Training of Trainers program and have begun applying fresh skills in recruitment, workplace issue mapping, and negotiation. This is a foundational step towards building stronger union structures in a sector where many workers have little or no formal protection.
In South Africa, farmworkers continued efforts to protect themselves from hazardous pesticides, demonstrating the enduring strength of worker-led campaigns for safer workplaces. Their organising keeps health and safety issues firmly in the national conversation and strengthens longer-term pushes for regulatory change.
This year showed that global solidarity is more than support. It is strategy, energy, and shared purpose. It is what turns workplace injustice into collective strength, and collective strength into lasting change.
When workers organise, they win. And when they connect their struggles across borders, those wins ripple across the world.