S2E1 - Jon Hartough, Southeast Asia Regional Coordinator of the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF)
"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 in Thailand and throughout the region.
Labor Link Podcast host Judy Gearhart speaks with Jon about the ITF's support for the Fisher Rights Network (FRN), a union of migrant workers with a presence in a growing number of Thai ports, and why he finds this work so inspiring. Jon recently published a summary of what fishers are up against in The New Samudra Report, #86. Highlights from that article follow.
The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) has been assisting fishers in forming the Fishers Rights Network (FRN), the first and only independent and democratic trade union for migrant fishers in Thailand. Since its inception in 2018, the FRN has established organizing centers in three major Thai fishing ports and organized over 3,000 migrant fishers. The main organizing centers are in Songkhla (in the ‘Deep South’), Ranong (on the Andaman Sea coast along the Myanmar border), and in Trat (eastern Thailand on the Cambodian border). These strategic locations have allowed the FRN to organize fishers as they enter the country and while they work on board fishing vessels.
Further reading
Samudra Report No. 86 – Thailand Labor Rights | “A Level Playing Field” by Jon Hartough
About The Labor Link Podcast
The Labor Link Podcast supports workers' rights in global supply chains by sharing personal stories and perspectives of the brave individuals organizing the workers who make our stuff. The Labor Link Podcast is hosted by Judy Gearhart of American University’s Accountability Research Center.
Series 1 was produced by Evan Matthew Papp of Empathy Media Lab with support from the Labor Radio Podcast Network. Season 2 is produced by Jules Taylor. Contact Judy Gearhart for media inquiries at gearhart@american.edu.
About the Host of The Labor Link Podcast
Judy Gearhart is Research Professor with the Accountability Research Center at American University’s School of International Service. She co-teaches a class on Human Rights and the Politics of Inequality at Columbia University, has served as the executive director of the International Labor Rights Forum and the programs director for Social Accountability International. She got her start as an organizer in Mexico and working for UNICEF and the ILO in Honduras.
About the Accountability Research Center
The Accountability Research Center (ARC) is based in American University’s School of International Service. ARC bridges research and frontline perspectives to learn from ideas, institutions, and actors that advance strategies to improve public accountability. Through extensive dialogue with partners and collaborators, ARC co-designs exploratory research that is relevant for their strategies and can contribute to international thinking about how change happens.
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