The International Labour Organisation’s latest World of Work report for 2026 delivers a stark warning: global productivity and wealth are increasing, yet workers are not sharing fairly in that growth. Incomes are falling behind profits, decent work remains out of reach for millions, and since the pandemic, the livelihoods and conditions for many workers have gone backwards.
This is not an accident. It reflects choices that prioritise capital over labour, weaken collective bargaining and normalise insecure and informal work. It is in this context that Union Aid Abroad–APHEDA and the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) are deepening its commitment to international solidarity through the Partnerships for Decent Work in the Indo-Pacific. A multi-country program across 10 countries in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, is delivered in partnership with Global Unions and International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and funded by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).
What do we mean by Decent Work?
Since the early 2000s, the commitment to “decent work” has been a key goal in global policy. It’s built into the United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable Development Goals and has been taken up by governments around the world, and even by many big businesses. But decent work is not just about having a job. It is about power, dignity, and justice at work. Decent work means employment that is secure, fairly paid, safe, and organised. It means workers having:
- a voice through strong unions
- the ability to bargain collectively
- access to social protection that allows families to live with dignity.
Decent work is fundamental to gender equality, democratic participation and social justice.
When decent work is denied, inequality deepens, and democracy weakens. When workers’ rights are weakened and jobs become more insecure, a basic value in society breaks down – the promise that people will be looked after and that those who create wealth will get a fair share. Around the world, countries with weak labour protections experience higher inequalities, greater political instability, and shrinking democratic space. This is why the struggle for decent work is inseparable from the struggle for democracy and peace.
Trade unions, therefore, have a fundamental role to play in global stability today. By organising workers, building collective power, and campaigning for fair wages, secure jobs, social protection, safe work, and gender equality, unions challenge exploitation and rebalance power in the workplace and in society. Strong unions make for more equal economies and more resilient democracies.
The frontline of the struggle: Indo-Pacific
Across the Indo-Pacific, workers are on the frontline of global economic restructuring, climate change and deregulation, with an expansion in informal employment and growing worker vulnerability undermining decent work.
In the Pacific, particularly in rural and outer-island communities, a majority of workers are engaged in the informal economy: domestic work, small-scale production, trading and unregistered services. In Timor-Leste, for example, 84% of women workers are in the informal economy and are denied basic rights such as written contracts, paid leave, minimum wages, and collective bargaining. This is not just an economic issue: it is a gender justice issue.
Workers across Southeast Asia face a similar reality. In Cambodia, around 70% of workers are in vulnerable employment – jobs without formal recognition, income security, or protection from economic, health, or climatic shocks. Precarious work – casual, seasonal, temporary or short-term contracts – is widespread across agriculture, manufacturing, and service sectors. These forms of work deliberately fragment the workforce and weaken workers’ ability to organise and bargain collectively.
Building workers’ power through solidarity
Through Partnership for Decent Work, Union Aid Abroad is working in solidarity with trade unions across Southeast Asia and the Pacific to confront these challenges head-on. The program focuses on organising workers in the formal and informal economy, supporting a just transition in the face of climate change, strengthening unions’ capacity to organise and win, and backing union-led campaigns to hold corporations and government accountable.
One example of this solidarity in action is the support for the global union, Education International, in five Pacific Island nations. The Pacific is short about 300,000 teachers (UN High-Level Panel 2024). This shortage is driven by insecure jobs, heavier workloads, unsafe working conditions — especially for women — and low pay, making it hard to attract and keep teachers. This work strengthens teacher unions to advocate for decent work, defend public education, and engage in meaningful social dialogue. Teachers’ unions have greater support to address staff shortages, build collective bargaining power, and push governments to honour their commitments to workers’ rights and quality public education for all.
At its core, our ambition through Partnerships for Decent Work is to build worker power. The program supports unions to organise where workers are insecure, to bargain where rights are weak, and to campaign where government and employers fail to protect. It recognises that lasting change does not come from technical fixes alone, but from collective action and a movement led by workers themselves.
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