Episodes

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 organizing across sectors. Andy was the 2024 recipient of the US Department of Labor’s prestigious Iqbal ...

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 fishing communities, and discusses how cooperatives have become tools for autonomy, accountability, and...

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 recorre las presiones que marcan la vida cotidiana en las comunidades pesqueras. Hablamos de las ...

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 in Ghana’s fisheries, and the changing seascape of fishing in Ghana. We recorded this interview in Ja...

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 aspiring migrant fishers. In this episode of the Labor Link podcast, we talk with Arnon Hiborang, a former migrant fisher who started organizing where he began – in his hometown of Bitung City on the island of Sulawesi.

Organizing and Campaigning to Improve the Conditions of Indonesian Fishers on the Distant-Water Fleet
“Now after [migrant fishers] got knowledge from SBMI, they know their rights. And they have the bravery to ask for their rights on the ship. That's something that we are really proud of.” (Hariyanto Suwarno)


“Our [Beyond Seafood] fisheries project …takes the elements of environmental harms and human harms as one.” (Charli Fritzner)


In Episode 4, Season 2 of the Labor Link podcast, Judy Gea...

“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 episode we speak with Dy TheHoya, or Hoya, the Head of the

Anti-Human Trafficking and Migration...

“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). FRN works with fishers in Thailand to increase their knowledge of their rights, and to improve wag...

"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 taken, effective implementation and enforcement remain major challenges to realizing the structural reforms needed, both i...

"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 migrant workers from Myanmar residing and working mainly in Thailand. Having fled Myanmar in 1988 after the mi...

“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 Extraordinary Activism.

About The Labor Link Podcast

The Labor Link Podcast supports workers' rights in global su...

“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 appropriate means, to demand transparent and accountable governance on labor and human rights issues.

The Ca...

“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 Thai trade union movement to support migrant workers, especially those at risk from human trafficking.

A...