Organising is key to building workers’ power and consolidating the strength of democratic and independent trade unions. However, organising has become more challenging due to a number of interlinked factors, including the shrinking democratic space in the region, the increasing labour flexibilisation, the swelling informal economy, and emergence of new forms of employment arrangements. In this regard, the ITUC-Asia Pacific provides its affiliates practical organising skills to increase their membership and union density and engage with non-ITUC organisations towards forging trade union solidarity and unity in Asia and the Pacific region and internationally.   

Being organised and recognised as legitimate representatives of the workers builds the profile of trade unions as a indispensable social partner in social dialogue. The ITUC-AP promotes social dialogue as a governance instrument to improve the quality of decisions and policies through the involvement of the main stakeholders in the world of work, to resolve important economic and employment issues, to encourage good governance, and to advance social and industrial peace and stability. Social dialogue is an important mechanism to ensure that workers’ voices on matters that affect them are raised and heard.