Colombo, 30 September, 2015 – Meeting of the Executive Board members of SARTUC was held in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The board members had last met in August 2014 in New Delhi, India.

The meeting was presided by Mr Harbhajan Singh Siddhu in the absence of Mr G. Sanjeeva Reddy, SARTUC President. Mr Singh welcomed the board members and also thanked SARTUC for giving him the opportunity to attend its board meeting and preside over it.

Mr Noriyuki Suzuki, ITUC-AP General Secretary, was also invited as a guest. He thanked SARTUC for inviting him, and also expressed his appreciation towards SARTUCs achievement in the past two years, where it has been able to revitalise itself and work towards ‘Building Workers’ Power’. He commended the work done by SARTUC GS, Mr LaxmanBasnet, for providing the impetus the institution needed for its active functioning.

Mr LaxmanBasnet, welcomed the board members and presented his report. In his report, Mr Basnet focused on SARTUC activities in the past, and also provided a roadmap for its future activities. He also mentioned about the progress made on the 5 identified issues from its previous executive board meeting of 2014, which were, informal economy, gender, migration, minimum wage and getting on-board SAARC.

The executive board meeting endorsed the Colombo recommendation from the regional conference held in Colombo from 28 – 29 September 2015. The meeting also decided to establish a women’s committee at the SARTUC national and central level. It further identified six issues, namely, South Asian regional industrial relations, South Asian labor law, application of standards and decent work, green jobs, anti-trafficking, and youth, on which SARTUC would focus in its future programs.

During the meeting, board members presented and discussed each of the member countries’ trade union situation and position. The members also set agenda for the 19th SAARC summit to be held in Pakistan and take forward its proposal for getting on-board.

The meeting concluded on identifying national issues of trade unions related to workers, and developing a joint/common position on trade union issues at the regional level, which would also be pushed at the SAARC level as well.