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 January 2024.
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Ghana’s fisheries are in crises having seen an 80% decline in their fish stocks in the past two decades. As target species dwindle, fishers are increasingly butting heads with government officials charged with regulating the sector. They are also, in some cases, resorting to illegal methods such as light fishing or chemicals to make up for their waning catches. Ghana’s struggle to address illegal fish trading on industrial trawlers landed a Yellow Card from the EU. Here is how Eric talks about the situation:
“So, all these [factors] are building up as pressures … having cumulative effects on the livelihoods of the artisanal fishers: one, they have competition with the trawlers over the common resource, which is the small pelagic. In addition, now we have oil and gas, within our offshore maritime jurisdiction. The [government] and the regulators are attempting to bring in measures that would help Ghana's fishers rebound.”
Government policy is driven by all these factors. President Akufo-Addo (2017-2025), instituted several conservation measures including banning the illegal fish trade, a closed season, and a moratorium on new canoe licenses. However, many artisanal fishers, who blame the industrial sector for overfishing, believe that the government is not helping the people who are harmed by these policy changes. About 10% of Ghanaians, 3 million people, are directly economically supported by the fisheries sector, and as Eric says, “in Ghana, every meal comes with fish.” The cultural and economic importance of fisheries cannot be understated. Looking forward, policymakers know they must tread with care to preserve this important resource and protect livelihoods.
In response, Ghana’s fishers are organizing in creative ways. They are incorporating systems of dues-paying members into traditional structures, which are maintained through trust. Fisher organizations such as the Ghana National Canoe Fishermen’s Council, Canoe and Fishing Gear Owners Association of Ghana, and the National Union of Teamsters and General Workers of Ghana are all working on organizing the small-scale sector in the hopes that it will gain more influence in policymaking decisions. In addition, Akufo-Addo’s government rolled out a co-management policy to transform fisheries governance from a consultative process to a more participatory management framework. In the year after our conversation with Eric, John Mahama won the presidency and paused the closed season, which was the most contentious environmentally focused measure.
In speaking with Eric and meeting fisher organizers in Ghana, it became clear that the artisanal fishing sector is in transition. The sector has long been structured by a mix of traditional hierarchies and informal agreements. As new organizations emerge, many of these relationships are changing. Unions and associations alike are formalizing their membership structures, a process that could help enable fishers to more effectively engage the government in fishery management initiatives.
From Left to Right: Eric Mawuko Atsiatorme, Kweku Abaka popularly called Olivere, and Nana Egyir. Photo Credit: Judy Gearhart
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 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.
Arnon Hiburong is a former migrant fisher turned union leader in Indonesia. In this interview, he tells the story of how he and his friends formed the United Fishing Vessel Crew Union of North Sulawesi. Their name in Bahasa is Serikat Awak Kapal Perikanan Bersatu-Sulawesi Utara, but they are mostly known as SAKTI-SULUT or just SAKTI.
Arnon is very articulate about why they formed a union in his home city:
“I’ll tell you why we formed SAKTI. It's because we have a common commitment. Like the name says, we are called the United Fishing Vessel Crew Union. All my colleagues have been working on the Taiwanese fishing fleet. We have experienced so many problems in the past. For example, our salaries went unpaid, we had no insurance, and we were exploited.” (Arnong Hiburong, June 13, 2024)
SAKTI formed in 2021 after Arnon and other former migrant fishers started meeting and talking about what they could do for younger migrant fishers in their home city of Bitung, a city on the northern tip of the island of Sulawesi.
In this episode Arnon talks about his experiences as a migrant fisher, SAKTI’s strategy to reach fishers at port and in their communities, and their efforts to negotiate for better wages. SAKTI is organizing both migrant fishers and fishers on the Indonesian fleet. They provide training, access to medical care, and legal support to their members. Recently, SAKTI also started organizing seafood processing workers at the request of some of the fishers’ wives who work in that sector.
SAKTI leaders are working with local government officials and participating in tri-partite negotiations to advocate for a higher minimum wage in Bitung City. They also collaborate with Destructive Fishing Watch, a policy advocacy NGO active in the area that helps fishers process grievances and seek remedy. In just three years, SAKTI- SULUT’s membership has grown from a handful of returned migrants to more than 1,000 dues paying members.
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 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 this interview, Hariyanto tells the story of how SBMI, Indonesia’s largest and oldest migrant worker union – Serikat Buru Migran Indonesia – came to work on fishers’ rights. He explains how in 2014 they responded to migrant fishers stranded in South Africa who had been jailed for their forced participation in illegal fishing. Many of those migrant fishers are still active SBMI members, helping to push the Indonesian government to create more comprehensive and better coordinated protections for migrant fishers.
Charli Fritzner from Greenpeace-US joins the conversation to describe their work with SBMI to promote Before You Eat, a film co-produced by SBMI and Greenpeace-Indonesia. The film shows migrant fishers’ struggles and desperation on the distant water fleet and the challenges they face to secure compensation when they return home.
Charli outlinesGreenpeace’s campaigns for seafood brands to phase out transshipment and implement real human rights due diligence, and to increase retailer transparency in tuna supply chains. She also shares her enthusiasm for Greenpeace’s strategy to integrate social and environmental issues in their ocean campaigns.
Photo credit: Tommy Trenchard, Greenpeace
Before You Eat Film access: https://beforeyoueat.id/en-us
The Labor Link Podcast
Labor Link is an initiative of the Accountability Research Center at the School of International Service, American University.
Social media Websites
@laborlinkpod @AcctResearchCtr
https://www.laborlinkpodcast.org/
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“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 Unit for CENTRAL – the Center for
the Alliance of Labor and Human Rights in Cambodia. Hoya is a former
Buddhist monk who studied in Thailand. He now taps many of the networks
from his time there to build CENTRAL’s outreach and support to
Cambodian migrants inside Thailand.
Hoya describes the complex challenges migrant fishers face, many of them
not getting paid for a year or more, some not at all. He explains the debt
burdens that force many Cambodians to migrate, noting that money paid to
recruiters is just one more loan on top of an already unmanageable debt
burden with high, accumulating interest rates.
CENTRAL’s approach to working with migrant fishers connects direct
services and training on safe migration with organizing and community-
based network building. They are working inside Cambodia to prepare
migrants before they leave the country, and to build support networks
among migrants inside Thailand. CENTRAL receives support from the
International Labour Organization’s Ship to Shore Program to provide safe
migration training to fishers and other migrants. They are building on that to
strengthen organizer networks on both sides of the Thai-Cambodian
border.
This is challenging work in a context where refugees who are outspoken
critics of the Cambodian government have faced deportation from Thailand
and arrest upon being returned to Cambodia. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has condemned these deportations. Yet the risk remains,
making migrant workers hesitant to speak out about employer abuse for
fear of deportation. And the organizers who help workers secure remedy
face even greater risk; some have received multiple threats.
CENTRAL’s vision – to build migrant worker networks so they can demand
their rights and support each other – is ambitious and multi-pronged. They
provide safe migration training before migrants leave, support the families
left behind in Cambodia, and provide legal aid to migrants seeking remedy
inside Thailand. Their goal is worker organizing, but they are starting with
the most basic community organizing, encouraging migrants to support
each other in seeking basic services – to collect back wages, access
medical care, or enroll their children in school.
To cite this podcast:
TheHoya, Dy and Judy Gearhart. 2024. “Organizing Migrant Fishers:
from Cambodia to Thailand.” Labor Link Podcast, Series 2, Episode 3.
Accountability Research Center, Washington, DC.
* Transcript available on request.
“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 wages and working conditions. For their protection, we're only using their first names.
In this episode, Judy Gearhart interviews Mario, Nguyen, and Lin about challenges in their work and the obstacles they face.
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.
Communications Links:
Follow the Labor Link Podcast on X
Follow @Judy_Gearhart on X and on LinkedIn, or read more about her work here.
Visit the Accountability Research Center website, and find us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and X.
"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.
Communications Links:
Follow the Labor Link Podcast on X
Follow @Judy_Gearhart on X and on LinkedIn, or read more about her work here.
Visit the Accountability Research Center website, and find us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and X.
"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 military coup, Aung Kyaw worked in shrimp peeling sheds, studied Thai labor law, and soon began organizing fellow migrant workers to demand better treatment.
Founded in 2009, MWRN has pioneered a power-building approach to combatting human trafficking and forced labor, working closely with the Thai trade union movement to advocate for better legal protections for worker organizing and collective bargaining rights in Thailand. Thai labor law does not allow migrant workers to form and lead their own trade unions, but the MWRN has persisted by engaging seafood processing companies to gain access to migrant workers, establish welfare committees, and negotiate agreements.
Follow MWRN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mwrnorg/
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 at American University. The first series was produced by Evan Matthew Papp of Empathy Media Lab with support from the Labor Radio Podcast Network. Contact Judy Gearhart for media inquiries at gearhart@american.edu.
About the Host of The Labor Link Podcast
Judy Gearhart is a 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.
Originally published February 11th, 2022
#1u
#UnionStrong
#LaborRadioPod
Communications Links:
“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 supply chains by sharing personal stories and perspectives of the men and women organizing the workers who make our stuff. The Labor Link Podcast is hosted by Judy Gearhart of American University’s Accountability Research Center and produced by Empathy Media Lab of the Labor Radio Podcast Network. For media inquiries, contact gearhart@american.edu.
About the Host of The Labor Link Podcast
Judy Gearhart is a 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.
Originally published January 20th, 2022
#1u
#UnionStrong
#LaborRadioPod
Communications Links:
Follow the Labor Link Podcast on X
Follow @Judy_Gearhart on X and on LinkedIn, or read more about her work here.
Accountability Research Center website
American University, School of International Service, Washington DC Website
“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 Cambodian authorities often use legislation and the judicial system to restrict free speech, jail government critics, and disperse workers, trade union representatives, and farmers when engaging in peaceful assembly. The 2015 Law on Associations and Non-Governmental Organizations imposes a range of restrictions on both domestic and foreign NGOs. Despite these dangers, Tola continues to fight for labor rights.
Learn more about Tola’s work:
https://www.central-cambodia.org/
https://www.facebook.com/CentralCambodiaOrg
https://twitter.com/CentralCambodia
About The Labor Link Podcast
The Labor Link Podcast supports workers' rights in global supply chains by sharing personal stories and perspectives of the men and women organizing the workers who make our stuff. The Labor Link Podcast is hosted by Judy Gearhart of American University’s Accountability Research Center and produced by Empathy Media Lab of the Labor Radio Podcast Network. Contact Judy Gearhart for media inquiries at gearhart@american.edu.
About the Host of The Labor Link Podcast
Judy Gearhart is a 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 to their strategies and can contribute to international thinking about how change happens.
Originally published on December 9th, 2021
#1u
#UnionStrong
#LaborRadioPod
Communications Links:
Follow the Labor Link Podcast on X
Follow @Judy_Gearhart on X and on LinkedIn, or read more about her work here.
Accountability Research Center website
American University, School of International Service, Washington DC Website
“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.
At the time this podcast was recorded, Sawit and 12 of his colleagues were facing criminal charges for having protested government corruption and neglect that contributed to railway accidents. Many believe they were targeted because they were building a broader and stronger labor movement. Read here how the unions’ offers of support for the government’s antihuman trafficking efforts were shunned. Sawit and his colleagues went above and beyond to diversify Thailand’s labor movement and that included standing up for and helping to organize migrant workers and supporting the founding of the Migrant Worker Rights Network and the Fisher Rights Network. Both organizations are featured on episodes of the Labor Link Podcast.
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. The first season was produced by Evan Matthew Papp from Empathy Media Lab with support from the Labor Radio Podcast Network. Contact Judy Gearhart for media inquiries at gearhart@american.edu.
About the Host of The Labor Link Podcast
Judy Gearhart is a 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.