14th ASIA PACIFIC REGIONAL CONFERENCE

14th ASIA PACIFIC REGIONAL CONFERENCE

Tuesday, September 17, 2019
Young Workers Forum
9:00 PM - 5:30 AM EDT - Event Day-1
Denpasar room (3rd Floor)

Objectives

  • Analyse the current political situation and issues young public service workers are facing in Asia Pacific
  • Share young worker organising and campaigning strategies and success stories
  • Develop a plan for a young workers solidarity action across the region
  • Revitalise the Asia Pacific Young Workers Network
  • Educate young workers about the values and priorities of Public Services International
  • Develop the capacity of young workers to engage with and intervene in APRECON
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APRECON Registration
4:00 AM - 6:00 AM EDT
Griya Agung Ballroom (2nd Floor)

Registration for early arrivals

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Wednesday, September 18, 2019
Asia Pacific Women's Committee and Caucus
8:45 PM - 10:00 PM EDT - Event Day-1
Denpasar room (3rd Floor)

All women delegates and observers are invited.

  • Welcome, Present, Apologies
  • Adoption of Agenda 
  • Minutes of the Previous Meeting
  • Sub-Regional Reports 
  • Report on ILO Convention 190
  • APRECON Gender Equality Principle
  • APWOC election process

Interview with PSI General Secretary, Rosa Pavanelli, following #ILC2019 that marked the adoption of C190: 

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APRECON Registration
10:00 PM - 1:00 AM EDT - Event Day-1
Griya Agung Ballroom (2nd Floor)
APRECON
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Lunch break
12:45 AM - 2:00 AM EDT
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APRECON DAY 1
2:00 AM - 5:30 AM EDT
Griya Agung Ballroom
APRECON
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APRECON Opening Session
2:00 AM - 3:30 AM EDT
Griya Agung Ballroom (2nd Floor)
APRECON

Opening Session (including procedural matters)

  • Introduction - APREC Co-Chair
  • PSI President, Dave Prentis 
  • PSI General Secretary, Rosa Pavanelli
  • Election of Credentials Committee
  • Adoption of Credentials Committee Report
  • Election of two APRECON Vice-Chairpersons from host country
  • Welcome by APRECON Vice-Chairpersons
  • Election of Standing Orders Committee
  • Adoption of Standing Orders and of Standing Orders Committee report
  • Adoption of agenda
  • Election of Tellers
  • Election of Election Officers
  • Secretariat Announcements
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Thematic Plenary 1 - The Future of Workers
3:30 AM - 5:00 AM EDT
Griya Agung Ballroom (2nd Floor)
APRECON

The centenary year of the ILO has been used to encourage unions, employers and governments to think and prepare for the disruptions to the workforce instigated by technologies, globalisation and new forms of employment. Yet the future capacity to experience decent work is bound to the ability of unions to defend and exercise trade union rights. Without effective trade union rights, the future will be captured by corporate power, increasingly driving workers into precarious, contractual, outsourced labour.

This panel will consider the role of public service unions in shaping the democratic, legal and economic space required to secure a just future for workers. Current struggles for trade union rights and to counter precarious work will be discussed.

Moderator:

  • Kate Lappin, Regional Secretary, Public Services International (PSI)

Speakers:

  • Shoya Yoshida, ITUC-AP
  • Esperanza Ocampo, PGEA, Philippines
  • Atsushi Kawamoto, JICHIRO, Japan
  • Shamim Ara, ASLHWEU, Pakistan
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Subregional meetings (nominations)
5:00 AM - 5:45 AM EDT

Subregional meetings to submit nominations to the SOC

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East Asia Sub-regional Caucus
5:00 AM - 5:45 AM EDT
Negara room (2nd Floor)
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Oceania sub-regional caucus
5:00 AM - 5:45 AM EDT
Combined room 1 (4th Floor)
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South East Asia (SEA) sub-regional caucus
5:00 AM - 5:45 AM EDT
Denpasar room (3rd Floor)
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South Asia (SA) sub-regional caucus
5:00 AM - 5:45 AM EDT
Combined room 2 (4th Floor)
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Credentials Committee
6:00 AM - 7:00 AM EDT

Credentials Committee meeting (closed session).

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Standing Orders Committee
6:00 AM - 7:00 AM EDT

 Standing Orders Committee meeting (closed session).

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Welcome cocktail
6:30 AM - 8:00 AM EDT
Griya Agung Ballroom, 2nd floor (outside hall)
Social events

Welcome cocktail for all participants.

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Thursday, September 19, 2019
APRECON DAY 2
9:00 PM - 5:45 AM EDT - Event Day-1
APRECON
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Plenary Session - Regional Priorities and Elections
9:00 PM - 10:15 PM EDT - Event Day-1
Griya Agung Ballroom (2nd Floor)
APRECON
  • Regional Report 
  • Presentation of Resolution #1 Regional Action Plan 2019-2023
  • Nominations for election presented by SOC
  • Election
  • Secretariat announcements
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Thematic Plenary 2 - The Future of Public Services
10:45 PM - 12:00 AM EDT - Event Day-1
Griya Agung Ballroom (2nd Floor)
APRECON

The Future of Public Services: Fighting Privatisation and Gaining Quality Public Services

Financialisation of the economy has exposed almost every public service to the threat of privatisation. Digitalisation, when left in the hands of the private sector, magnifies the threat of privatisation even further. The public is increasingly opposed to privatisation and demanding governments ensure corporations contribute to the public good through taxes, rather than capture commonly-owned resources and services. 

This panel will explore existing and future battles to retain, restore or create quality public services including the potential to position data and data governance as a public service. It will address the single largest threat to quality public services and decent work - corporate power.

Moderator

Rosa Pavanelli, General Secretary, Public Services International (PSI)

Speakers:

  • Parmindeerjeet Singh, IT for Change, India
  • Takeo Nikaido, ZENSUIDO, Japan
  • Liz Snape, UNISON, UK
  • Judith Kiejda, NSWNMA, Australia 
  • Young-Bae Chang, PSI Korea
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Lunch break
12:00 AM - 1:30 AM EDT
Sanur Hanum Restaurant (1st Floor)
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Workshop A-1: Combating Privatisation
1:30 AM - 3:30 AM EDT
Denpasar Room (3rd Floor)
APRECON

(Japanese interpretation will be provided for this workshop)

Privatisation, outsourcing, public-private partnerships (PPPs), and asset recycling are strategies used by governments to channel public assets and services into private hands. These strategies are also used to undermine and destroy public service trade unions, which are often among the strongest in the country.

Governments, of all political persuasions, have embraced ‘private sector engagement’ in the delivery of public services. In the past decades, the message focused on the private sector’s supposed efficiency advantages (which have proved illusory). Many governments turned to PPPs as a means to fund public infrastructure and services ‘off-book’ – a form of accounting fraud to avoid recording debt obligations in public budgets. Letting for-profit corporations run essential public services inevitably leads to distortions, as the corporations must maximise profits whereas the government and the public seek universal access, affordability and reliability. The corporations often take advantage of the weaknesses in governance and regulatory mechanisms, including through bribery and corruption, gaming the regulator and non-transparent lobbying in influence peddling. Many of these companies also engage in aggressive tax avoidance, even while making profits from public funds.

The current message from the UN is that we need private finance to meet the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In order to attract this private finance, governments will need to offer a range of incentives (read public subsidies) such as risk and default guarantees – public subsidies to private profits.

As privatisation inevitably fails to deliver on its promises of greater efficiency, reliability and access, governments are now taking services back in hand, a process known as ‘remunicipalisation’. More people and organisations are joining PSI in opposing privatisation and advocating remunicipalisation and strengthened public services. Trade unions wishing/needing to oppose privatisation must build alliances in their communities in order to create the broader public pressure to block these backroom deals. We must also focus on improving the democratic and governance structures such that local, regional and national governments cannot be so easily captured by corporate interests.

In this workshop, discussants will provide an overview of privatisation trends in the Asia Pacific region, as well as share unique union/country experiences and strategies. Collaboration opportunities to stop the drivers of privatisation across the region will also be discussed.

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Workshop A-2: Getting to Equal
1:30 AM - 3:30 AM EDT
Negara room (2nd Floor)
APRECON

Japanese interpretation will be provided for this workshop

Women often represent more than 50% of public sector workers yet remain significantly under-represented in union leadership throughout much of the region. Issues that women workers face at a higher rate, including sexual harassment, gender discrimination, caring obligations, gender pay gaps, breast feeding and menstrual breaks, are less likely to be prioritised when women are not represented in leadership. The AP Women’s Committee invites unions to participate in this workshop to discuss methods to ensure we meet our 50% quota target and to build stronger leadership of women throughout the PSI family.

The AP WOC decided to hold this workshop in APRECON, rather than in the WOC meeting because it requires the commitment of all delegates to overcome the representation deficit. Therefore, we encourage affiliates, particularly affiliates who have been unable to achieve 50% minimum representation, to consider sending male delegates to this workshop.

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Workshop A-3: Intergenerational Dialogue
1:30 AM - 3:30 AM EDT
Combined room 1 (4th Floor)
APRECON

Japanese interpretation will be provided for this workshop

Intergenerational dialogue – experienced trade unionists sometimes feel that young workers have abandoned a sense of solidarity and that they focus instead on short-term, individual experience. Conversely, young workers often find unions hierarchical, conservative and incapable of engaging in modern activism.

An intergenerational dialogue of union leaders and emerging union leaders will aim to develop strategies to bridge the divide and grow union power into the future.

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Workshop A-4: Digitalisation for the Public Good
1:30 AM - 3:30 AM EDT
Combined room 2 (4th Floor)
APRECON

Digitalisation has the potential to disrupt labour, the delivery of public services as well as the operations of a democratic, functioning state. Data is recognised as the most valuable resource in modern economies, yet few governments have comprehensive strategies to ensure data can be utilised for public good and generate public resources.

This workshop will consider both the barriers and opportunities to ensure data digitalisation is a public good and generate recommendations for future work in the Region.

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Plenary Session - Workshop reports, Resolutions
4:00 AM - 5:45 AM EDT
Griya Agung Ballroom (2nd Floor)
APRECON
  • Report back from parallel workshops
  • Affiliates’ resolutions #2 to #5
  • Discussion
  • Solidarity messages
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APRECON group photo
11:55 PM - 12:00 AM EDT - Event Day-1
Griya Agung Ballroom (2nd Floor)

All participants to assemble in the foyer in front of Conference Hall.

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Standing Orders Committee (if required)
5:45 AM - 6:30 AM EDT
Negara room (2nd Floor)

Closed session.

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Solidarity Dinner
7:00 AM - 9:00 AM EDT
Pandawa Outdoor Stage - Hotel Grand Inna Bali Beach Sanur
Social events

Gathering at the Hotel’s Lobby at 6.00 pm (shuttle bus available for those who need it).

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Friday, September 20, 2019
APRECON DAY 3
9:00 PM - 5:15 AM EDT - Event Day-1
APRECON
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Thematic Plenary 3 - The Future of Power
9:00 PM - 10:30 PM EDT - Event Day-1
Griya Agung Ballroom (2nd Floor)
APRECON

The Future of Power – Inclusive, Representative, Organised

The future of workers will depend on the power we build and the power we exercise. To build power, unions must reflect the diversity of the workers they represent and find ways to organise across workers no matter what their employment status. Strategies for organising and growth will be effective if they are inclusive, representative, and promote union unity. Organising in solidarity with civil society, users of public services and across unions using new methods will be required if we are to build a just future. 

This panel will incorporate the perspectives of young workers, women workers and potential allies in imagining a more powerful future.

Moderator:

  • Clare Middlemas, CPSU-SPSF, Australia 

Speakers:

  • Eni Lestari, Chairperson, IMA, Hong Kong
  • Mariko Aoki, AP WOC Chair, JICHIRO, Japan
  • Marshall Tangaroa, NZPSA, New Zealand
  • Prakash Devdas, Mumbai Mahanagarpalika Karmachari Mahasangh Municipal Unions’ Trust, India
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Workshop B-1: Climate Change & Emergency Service Workers
11:00 PM - 12:30 AM EDT - Event Day-1
Negara room (2nd Floor)
APRECON

Japanese interpretation will be provided for this workshop

This workshop will symbolically take place on the day of the global climate strike.

The climate crisis presents implications for all PSI’s sectors. Emergency service workers will be facing more extreme and frequent weather events and natural disasters in the AP Region. Energy workers will have to face a phase out of fossil fuels. Public water systems will be put under extreme pressure. Health workers will face new and more severe public health challenges. And public administration workers at the national and local levels must be able to prepare the major transformation of the economy that climate chaos necessitates.

If we leave the debate over climate change in the hands of corporations, they will use it to further liberalise our energy and our emergency response systems. But if unions lead on climate change policy, we can shift our commons and respond to the demands of young workers. This workshop will look at ways to organise around the demand for a just and equitable transition to low carbon economies and provide proposals for future work in this area.

In 2018, PSI led the workers’ group during the drafting process of new ILO guidelines to ensure decent work in public emergency services. The guidelines provide higher standards and greater coverage for public emergency service workers. This workshop will provide an overview of the content of the Guidelines and help affiliates representing emergency service workers utilize the Guidelines as a campaign tool.

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Workshop B-2: Trade Justice
11:00 PM - 12:30 AM EDT - Event Day-1
Combined room 1 (4th Floor)
APRECON

There will be no interpretation for this workshop.

Neoliberal trade rules have been demonstrated to hurt workers, facilitate privatisation and increase protection and power of multinational corporations. Yet as popular opinion has turned against international trade rules, conservative governments have sought to re-shape trade debates as fuel for nationalist and racist parties.

This workshop will explore options for developing a just trade agenda that unions can promote – trade rules that facilitate decent work and allow governments to secure revenue and promote international solidarity.

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Workshop B-3: Health and Social Care
11:00 PM - 12:30 AM EDT - Event Day-1
Denpasar room (3rd Floor)
APRECON

Japanese interpretation will be provided for this workshop

Government spending on health and social care services (H&SS) is an investment in our communities and in the wellbeing of citizens with broader economic production and fiscal benefits. Our human right to health is recognised within lauded Sustainable Development Goals and local political slogans. And yet, despite the evidence and the rhetoric, the reality remains that funding of health and social care services across the Asia Pacific region is inadequate. For many, access to services remains out of reach. For workers, pay and working conditions remain inadequate and violence at work is on the increase.

This workshop will explore recent campaigns, wins, and the struggles that lie ahead. Together, participants will identify the focus points that will help us build our capacity to fight for the Human Right to Health. This will build the agenda for the upcoming two-day Asia Pacific Regional Health and Social Services Task Force meeting to be held later in 2019.

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Workshop B-4: Communications
11:00 PM - 12:30 AM EDT - Event Day-1
Combined room 2 (4th Floor)
APRECON

There will be no interpretation for this workshop.

Unions increasingly need to engage members, potential members and the public to prosecute our case for labour rights and quality public services. 

This workshop will introduce PSI’s resources to support affiliates to host a website as well as to mount online campaigns against privatisation.

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Lunch break
12:30 AM - 2:00 AM EDT
Sanur Hanum Restaurant (1st Floor)
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Plenary Session – Workshop reports, Resolutions
2:00 AM - 3:45 AM EDT
Griya Agung Ballroom (2nd Floor)
APRECON
  • Report back from parallel workshops
  • Proclamation of elected representatives
  • Emergency resolutions
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APRECON Closing
4:15 AM - 5:15 AM EDT
Griya Agung Ballroom (2nd Floor)
APRECON

Closing of APRECON

  • Obituaries
  • Solidarity messages
  • Closing Remarks PSI General Secretary
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APREC
5:15 AM - 6:15 AM EDT
Negara room (2nd Floor)

Meeting of incoming Asia-Pacific Regional Executive Committee (APREC) - for Committee members only. 

  • Election of co-chairs and Vice Presidents
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Saturday, September 21, 2019