Kasapi Union

The Kasapi Union of Filipino Migrant Workers in Greece (Greek: Kasapi Hellas) is a Greek trade union founded in 1986. It advocates for workers' rights and provides social support to Filipino migrants in Greece.

Kasapi Union

Kasali Hellas
Formation	1986; 39 years ago (1986)
Type	Union
Headquarters	Athens, Greece
Membership	15,000 - 20,000 (2019)
Key people	Joe Valencia, Deborah Carlos Valencia (co-founders)

History

Co-founder Deborah Carlos-Valencia, 2015

Kasapi Union was founded in 1986 by Deborah Carlos Valencia, her husband Joe Valencia, and other Filipino refugees to Greece, who had fled Ferdinand Marcos.^[1] During the 1980s, Kasapi Union launched a political advocacy campaign to increase rights for second-generation Filipinos in Greece.^[2] The same decade it launched a campaign to include domestic workers in the International Labour Organization's Convention on Domestic Workers, achieving success in 2011.^[2]

In 1998, the organisation held a workers' solidarity event at Panteion University.^[1] In the mid-1990s, the union launched a campaign to enable migrants workers to become legal workers.^[1]

Activities and membership

The organisation provides social support to people who became unemployed,^[2] runs childcare, provides low-interest loans and supports Filipino immigrants access legal services.^[3] With the Melissa Network, Kasapi provides support to unaccompanied refugee children traveling to Greece.^[4]

The organisation is one of the oldest Filipino associations in Greece.^[2] By 2019, it had around 15,000 to 20,000 members, mostly based in Athens, mostly women.^[2] The union's members, many of whom were fled the rule of Filipino dictator Ferdinand Marcos, are commonly politically active.^[2]

See also

• Greek Council of Refugees

• Immigration to Greece