One of the strongest working lines of FES Kenya has been the cooperation with trade unions. FES enjoys a close relationship with the German Workers’ Movement and a main focus of interest is to support trade unions in their struggle for workers’ rights, better working conditions and social justice.

Over the years, FES Kenya has collaborated with various trade union organisations such as the national umbrella body of trade unions in Kenya, the Central Organisation of Trade Unions (COTU) and various Global Union Federations (GUFs). FES Kenya has also engaged with a limited number of individual unions in the country. Furthermore, FES has also had a close relationship with the African Regional Office (AFRO) of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU). This relationship will be extended to the newly united African trade union organisation, the International Trade Union Confederation – African Regional Organisation (ITUC-Africa), which has its head office in Nairobi.

Cooperation with the trade unions in Kenya has been carried out through support in various areas. In 2007, these areas included the following:

• The review of labour laws: development of common positions and inputs into the various draft labour laws
• Trainings on the privatisation of public enterprises
• The Global Outlook Trade Union School

In 2007, FES in collaboration with the Kenya Electrical Trade & Allied Workers Union (KETAWU), embarked on a review of the pending labour laws with a view of commenting and making suggestions for improvements to the draft labour laws namely; The Employment Bill, the Labour Institutions Bill, the Labour Relations Bill, the Work Injury Benefits Bill and the Occupational Health and Safety Bill.

Due to the global competition being faced by most developing nations, many corporations are undergoing major changes to realign themselves with the competitive market. Some of these changes include the privatisation of public enterprises. This trend poses a major threat to the traditional collective bargaining systems and hence presents a big challenge to trade unions. In Kenya, for example, there are ongoing plans to privatise the communications sector comprising of the Postal Corporation of Kenya and Telkom Kenya. In the light of these developments FES Kenya cooperated with the Communication Workers Union of Kenya (COWU-K) in training of the members with the main objective of building their capacity to be able to negotiate effectively with the private sector stakeholders and dialogue with the government for appropriate policies to guide the privatisation process.

In 2007, FES Kenya started the "Global Outlook Trade Union School", a comprehensive training programme jointly organised with the Central Organisation of Trade Unions Kenya (COTU-K). The objective is to raise awareness and broaden the knowledge base of young trade union leaders on the dynamics of globalisation and regional integration and their implications on Kenyan workers and on trade union work in general. The young leaders are expected to act as change agents and impart the acquired knowledge and skills to their trade union and colleagues at work. It is also expected that these course graduates become more active members in the regional and global labour movement. Ultimately, trade unions must be able to play a more active role in shaping international processes and to deal with adverse effects on the national level.