Trade Union Delegates Prepared as Advocates for Social Protection

With an ultimate goal of increasing social insurance coverage of herder, ILO and the Confederation of Mongolian Trade Unions (CMTU) have been working together under the project “Promoting freedom of association, right to collective bargaining and benefits of social protection to herders in Mongolia,” to promote 1) freedom of association, 2) collective bargaining, and 3) social protection to herders through trade union delegates. Under the collaboration, the project team developed the official “Herder” program with these three concepts to be piloted in all parts of Mongolia.

Systematic approaches to educating herders on social protection include training the trade union delegates, preparing them as advocates, and supporting them in communicating with herders, thus establishing herders’ trade unions in the long run. In this regard, the first training was held between September 22-23 in Zavkhan province and focused on the following topics and engaged participants in discussions about:

• Definition of a trade union, how to form one, the benefits of being a member, and trade union activities
• “Collective bargaining” concepts
• Laws and regulations on labour relations
• Social protection policy and arrangements for herders
• Law on pension and welfare of the social insurance fund
• Social insurance coverage, voluntary insurance, electronic agreement.

The next training will be held in Dornogobi province in October and continue to other 19 provinces online this year. As a result of the training series in 21 provinces of Mongolia, the soum (lower administrative unit of the province) trade union delegates will have information about the new labour law regulations. In addition to that, they will be trainers and advocates for social protection for herders and contribute to increasing the coverage of herders.