UnionAID Annual Report 2012

Annual Report 2012 Unions Aotearoa International Development Trust (UnionAID) An independent charitable trust established by the NZ Council of Trade Unions –Te Kauae Kaimahi as an international development agency for New Zealand unionists and their families.

Uniquely union: Workers in New Zealand helping workers overseas Registered Charity – Charities Commission Reg No CC40251 Trustees: Ross Wilson Executive Chair, Peter Conway, Helen Kelly and Mary-Jane Rivers.

P O Box 6689 Wellington 6141 Email: admin@unionaid.org.nz Visit: www.unionaid.org.nz

Union Foundation Members:

Thanks to Marty Braithwaite for the photos in this report

NZ Council of Trade Unions –Te Kauae Kaimahi (CTU), Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union(EPMU), Maritime Union of New Zealand (MUNZ), National Distribution Union (NDU), NZ Dairy Workers Union (NZDWU), NZEI Te Riu Roa; NZ Educational Institute, N Z Post Primary Teachers Organisation (PPTA), Public Service Association (PSA), Rail & Maritime Transport Union (RMTU), Service and Food Workers Union Nga Ringa Tota (SFWU), Tertiary Education Union (TEU).

Trustees’ Report 2011-12 has been another successful year for UnionAID with a growing number of committed activists, and people signing up to become Solidarity members. By March 2012 membership stood at 159.

In addition, a small group of keen fundraisers have put considerable energy into this work over the past year. As a result some bold and exciting fundraising activities have been undertaken: the publication in September of a UnionAID recipe book in time for union conferences and Christmas; and a large raffle with 15,000 tickets, offering four high value iPrizes. The raffle was heavily promoted over several months at conferences, through unions and in union newsletters, and also to colleagues and friends. Although not all tickets were sold, a very healthy profit of 12,640 was made by the time it was drawn at the end of October. We also held two very successful film screenings at the Paramount, one of which was sold out, and have developed a long list of people interested in attending our events. One-off donations are also collected during fundraisers, however the main focus - and one of UnionAID priorities for 2012-13 - continues to be the signing up of Solidarity members for regular ongoing direct debits.

The vocational training project on the Thai-Burma border at Mae Sot, which is funded through the Government’s new Sustainable Development Fund has had a very successful year. The training complex was completed with an office, accommodation and a kitchen for teachers and trainees, an ablution block, and another classroom/workshop in addition to the one which was built in 2011. The mainly female migrant workers who stream across the border to find jobs and send money home have been signing up to learn new skills. Numbers are well on track to meet the target of 350 for the first year and all trainees to date have easily found work in factories along the border or sometimes in Bangkok.

Employers have also expressed satisfaction with the level of skill and competence provided by the training.

Looking towards future sustainability of the work in Mae Sot, a vegetable garden, a fishery and a frog farm have been established (with varying outcomes), and there is a small number of livestock. Creative marketing ideas abound, and

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when the study tour visited in February, we agreed that their experimentation with dried tomatoes as a sweet snack was a total success.

Our 3 year KOHA funded organising project with the Tamil Nadu Labour Union (TNLU) came to an end in June 2011. With the changes to geographical priorities for aid and development by the New Zealand government, and the shift in focus to the Pacific, our proposal to MFAT for funding an economic development project in Tamil Nadu with the TNLU was unsuccessful. However, Gareth Morgan through his Foundation generously agreed to give $1 for every new $1 raised by UnionAID, up to $30,000 each year for 3 years. This funding meets the budget of $60,000 per year for the TNLU Dalit and Tribal Economic Development Project and we received our first ‘matched’ $30,000 in January 2012 after providing a 6 monthly progress report.

The project has now been up and running for 9 months and seen the establishment of the first two workers co-operatives. To ensure we collect quantitative data, we have developed a short survey in collaboration with TNLU which will be delivered orally at the pre- and post intervention stages. Susan Iversen from Karo Data Management in Wellington has developed an online database through LimeSurvey and data has already been collected and entered for 528 participants. More than 40 individuals have signed up to 4 occupational microenterprises and the first participants selected for training in business skills.

Another small partnership project with the Free Trades Zone and General Service workers Union has been established in Sri Lanka with UnionAID funding which will organize women garment workers in garment factories in the Eastern provinces.

We have had no success this year establishing a Pacific project but continue to consider possible union partnerships for projects in this area for the future.

As Trustees we are very proud of what UnionAID has already helped these communities in developing countries to achieve. And of course our donors should share that pride because we can’t do it without your financial support. So thanks again for making your commitment. Your money is already making a huge and measureable difference to many thousands of the most vulnerable workers in the world.

And our thanks again to everyone who, in many ways, have contributed to UnionAID activities.

Peter Conway Helen Kelly Mary-Jane Rivers Ross Wilson

You can help vulnerable workers in developing countries in our region get a fairer deal by making a small monthly donation by direct debit by emailing admin@unionaid.org.nz Unions Aotearoa International Development Trust is a registered charity - Reg. No.CC40251

Financial Report Statement of Financial Performance For the Year Ended 31 March 2012

Statement of Financial Position As at 31 March 2012

Income

2012

Kiwi Solidarity Member Donations

45,151

2011 37,219

Assets Current Assets

2012

2011

196,374

168,692

0900 Donations

-

30

Fixed Assets

234

585

General Donations

-

14,735

Total Assets

196,608

169,277

Foundation Donations

-

13,104 Current Liabilities

2,476

3,971

Total Liabilites

2,476

3,971

Current year surplus

28,826

76,161

Accumulated Funds

165,305

89,144

Equity

194,131

165,305

Fundraising Income Grant/Project Income Interest Total Income

33,798

25,956

188,142

268,438

4,488

3,339

271,579

362,821

Expenditure Project Expenditure

229,037

275,556

Operational Expenditure

5,817

3,478

Fundraising/Promotional Expenditure

7,900

7,626

242,753

286,660

28,826

76,161

Total Expenditure Surplus/(Deficit)

Grant/Project Income & Expenditure

Represented by:

Notes to the Summary Financial Statements These summary financial statements have been extracted from the audited financial statements.

A copy of the audited financial statements is available on request from the UnionAid office, or from the website.

Accumulated funds are available for funding projects as they are identified and development

300,000 250,000 200,000

Liabilities

Grant Income

150,000

Project Expenditure

100,000

Funded by UnionAID

50,000 0

2012

2011

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You can help vulnerable workers in developing countries in our region get a fairer deal by making a small monthly donation by direct debit by emailing admin@unionaid.org.nz with your contact details. We will then contact you and make the arrangements.

Unions Aotearoa International Development Trust is a registered charity - Reg. No.CC40251

UnionAID Project Priorities for 2012 UnionAID has established the following priorities for our project work in 2012:

1. The Tamil Nadu Labour Union Dalit and Tribal Economic Development Project When our 3 year NZAid funded union organising project ended on 30 June 2011, an exciting project with a sustainable economic development focus was developed to meet the government’s SDF criteria. This will establish • 5 worker co-operatives, bringing together isolated groups of workers • 120 micro-enterprises, focusing on 40 individuals each year of the project • training for 155 people who will then train 1045 participants in business and enterprise skills.

Within the first 9 months of the project, the first two worker co-operatives (Agricultural Farming Co-operative and the Basket Weavers Co-operative) have been established and the formal process for registration initiated.

Four micro-enterprises have been set up for 40 workers and the first training completed for 86 trainers who will provide training and business advice at both membership and board level.

2. The FTUB Mae Sot Project The Vocational Training Centre in Mae Sot project continues to operate successfully with funding from the Government’s new Sustainable Development Fund, and is due to be completed by the end of 2012

3. Sri Lanka

members within the two year term of the project, and develop a network among women workers in the tea plantations and the free trade zones to counter racist discrimination against the Tamil women and to bring together women of different ethnicities and religion

4. Burma Young Community Leaders Project June 2011 saw our third intake of 6 aspiring young community leaders arrive from Burma and the Thai Burma border to complete their six month intensive English and democracy in practice course at Victoria University in Wellington. Evaluations showed that these promising young leaders met or exceeded expectations with marked improvements in language competency. All gave extremely good presentations of research projects that they did during their course. However the continuing success of this project was marred by one the students who did not leave Auckland with the others but sought refugee status. This has put the programme, which is funded by the government, in jeopardy.

Two of the alumni from earlier years were each granted $3000 from our field work/small grants fund to undertake projects inside Burma.

5. Study Tour to FTUB project In February 2012 UnionAID Chair, Ross Wilson led a small study tour of interested unionists to visit the FTUB project in Mae Sot, and to meet democracy activists and other Burmese working in a variety of NGOs both in Thailand and on the border. People accepted onto the tour will be expected to return to New Zealand to educate others about the situation for Burmese workers on the border and UnionAID projects, and to get involved with UnionAID activities in New Zealand. We may explore hosting other study tours as appropriate.

This project will organize women workers in the garment industry in the Eastern Provinces (with a target of2500 members) as union

Become a Kiwi Solidarity member - Support real change

You can help vulnerable workers in developing countries in our region get a fairer deal by making a small monthly donation by direct debit by emailing admin@unionaid.org.nz with your contact details. We will then contact you and make the arrangements.

Unions Aotearoa International Development Trust is a registered charity - Reg. No.CC40251