The Labor Link Podcast

In this episode of the Labor Link Podcast, we speak with Andrews (Andy) Addoquaye Tagoe, general secretary of Ghana’s General Agriculture Workers’ Union (GAWU), about strategies for organizing across the formal and informal agricultural sectors. From fishers, canoe owners, and farm workers to the women working as fish porters and descalers, Andy explains how GAWU takes a holistic approach to organ...

In this episode of the Labor Link podcast, we speak with José Luis Carrillo Galaz, president of the Mexican Confederation of Fishing and Aquaculture Cooperatives (CONMECOOP) about what it actually takes to organize artisanal fishers in Mexico and why fishermen remain central to marine conservation, coastal economies, and food security. Listen as he traces the pressures shaping daily life in fishin...

En este episodio del podcast Labor Link, conversamos con José Luis Carrillo Galaz, presidente de la Confederación Mexicana de Cooperativas de Pesqueras y Acuícolas (CONMECOOP), sobre lo que realmente implica organizar a los pescadores artesanales en México y por qué siguen siendo actores centrales para la conservación marina, las economías costeras y la seguridad alimentaria. Nuestra conversación...

In this episode of the Labor Link podcast, we talk to Eric Mawuko Atsiatorme. He is an expert on fisheries, having experienced Ghana’s fishing industry as a child laborer, a student of microbiology, and a canoe owner. Now he is a lawyer and helped us navigate the complex and diverse nature of Ghana’s fisheries. We discuss Eric’s story, the traditional structure of the sector, women’s unique role i...

Returned Migrant Fishers Organizing in Indonesia Returned migrant fishers are organizing new unions in Indonesia’s seafood industry. Many of these fishers have endured years of horrific and life-threatening conditions at sea, had their wages stolen, and their dignity denigrated. Now, with support from national and international rights advocates, they are helping to educate and defend younger and a...

New Podcast Episode! Organizing and Campaigning to Improve the Conditions of Indonesian Fishers on the Distant-Water Fleet In Episode 4, Season 2 of the Labor Link podcast , Judy Gearhart speaks to Hariyanto Suwarno of the Indonesian Migrant Workers’ Union, known as SBMI for its acronym in Bahasa, and Charli Fritzner of Greenpeace USA. “Now after [migrant fishers] got knowledge from SBMI, they kno...

“Our dream. We would like to see …very independent, community-based organizations run by migrant worker themselves. So they understand their rights. They protect their rights. And they stand up together for their rights… And another thing that we would like to see… is all the children of Cambodian migrant workers in Thailand having access to school.… They have a right to education.” During this ep...

“Fishers, they are not allowed to have their own documents once they are on shore... the Captain or vessel owners, they keep the documents of the fishers... this is like restriction of movement because once fishers are back to the shore they cannot move freely. They are forced to stay on the fishing boat vessel.” – Mario   Mario, Nguyen, and Lin are organizers with the Fishers’ Rights Network (FRN...

" These fishers are facing conditions that most workers in the United States would be shocked to hear about. " Jon Hartough is the Southeast Asia Regional Coordinator for the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF). In this interview, Jon discusses the challenges in organizing migrant fishers in Thailand's fishing industry. While there have been some positive steps take...

"When I arrived in Thailand, I was an illegal migrant worker. But even though I work in a factory, I read the news every day. I read about the minimum wage. I read about eight-hour working days and how much workers should get paid for overtime." Aung Kyaw is one of the founders and longtime lead organizers of the Migrant Worker Rights Network (MWRN), a membership-based organization for m...

“I believe once you start work for worker rights, you cannot stop. You just can't stop yourself. I need to protest. I need to have these workers’ backs.” Kalpona Akter is a former child worker and labor activist from Bangladesh. She is the founder and Executive Director of the Bangladesh Center for Workers’ Solidarity and was awarded Human Rights Watch's Alison Des Forges award for Extraor...

“Talking about the human rights situation in Cambodia, we believe that the democratic shrinking space is the main root cause that is undermining labor rights and human rights.”   Tola Moeun  is a human rights defender and the executive director of the  Center for Alliance of Labor and Human Rights  (CENTRAL), an NGO that supports Cambodian laborers by providing them with legal aid, and other appro...

“There will be no way for us to be able to solve every single problem of migrant workers here in Thailand. The only way we can do it, we need to have them to speak up about the problem. We need to have them form their own organization, representing themselves.” Sawit Kaewwan, the secretary general of the  State Enterprises Workers’ Relations Confederation (SERC)  in Thailand, has mobilized the Tha...