joci.org

Fighting for Social Protection for Young Workers

(2 votes)

Written by Secrétariat International

Friday, 20 November 2009

The Participation of Thailand YCW in the World Day for Decent Work

On October 7 at 9 o’clock, lots of people arrived from everywhere at King Chulalongkorn Monument. They came to celebrate a wonderful day for all workers in the world: the “World Day for Decent Work”. That day is an opportunity to join in a united mobilization for change. Each country celebrates it in their own way. Sometimes the focus is on more decent working conditions, sometimes on demands regarding rights at the workplace. In Thailand the campaign aimed to pressure the government to sign ILO conventions 87 and 98 as soon as possible. Thailand is one of the few countries which haven't signed these conventions which are related to the protection of the right to organize and the right to collective bargaining.

In Thailand we are well aware of the consequences of the government's failure to sign the conventions. The Thai labor legislation itself has some provisions that are against the principles established in the conventions, i.e. the right to organize and to collective bargaining. Workers are not able to defend their interests. For instance, state enterprise workers cannot get together with private company workers to claim their rights. Or the workers in one workplace cannot put forward demands on behalf of workers in another workplace. In practice, those workers who form a union are always dismissed on legal grounds. And in the same connection, although the law provides for welfare for all (including for subcontracted workers), the problem of low pension and poor welfare quality is a reality in those workplaces without trade unions. Employers also tend to break this law. These are consequences of not signing the conventions. It is essential that trade unions and other workers can get together and fight for the interests of all workers. For the record, only 500,000 out of 35 million workers in the country are members of a union, i.e. only 1.4 percent, which is a very low number.

Therefore, we should all be aware of the importance of ILO conventions 87 and 98. If our country does not sign them, workplaces without a union to protect them will be left alone to face unfair working conditions. THE THAI GOVERNMENT MUST SIGN THESE CONVENTIONS NOW!!! We have been requesting this from every leader of our country for many, many years. But there has been no response and no action regarding our request. Thailand is one of the founder countries of the ILO. So just like other workers around the globe, we will insist that “We should have decent work” and that in any workplace, workers should be entitled to organize and they should have the power to negotiate freely.

On October 7, three to four thousand workers belonging to the state enterprise trade union, the textile federation, the labor committee, the trade union in the Ragsit area, the labor council and so on, decided to stop work for one day. They demanded good quality of life. The people who attended the celebration helped each other carry a red fabric square sign with an inscription in white letters which read: “ILO 87-98 now”. The movement paraded from King Chulalongkorn Monument to the parliament. One representative handed out the request note to government officials, demanding an answer from the government that very same day. At 2 pm, Deputy Prime Minister Sanun Kajonparsart came to meet the group and announced that Thailand would sign these conventions as a new year present for all workers in Thailand.

The chances are that this promise cannot really be relied on. However, this is a good sign because we had put forward this demand in the past but had never received a response from the government. Another good sign is the number of people involved in this movement. Despite tensions between two political groups, the number of participants increased compared with the previous activities, and the people who came that day belonged to both political groups. This means that they were able to overcome their conflict to join forces. And we can speculate that even more people will join in the movement next time.

Those organizations that took part in the movement will set up a committee to monitor and follow up the results of the movement on a permanent basis. And of course, we will act again if the government does not deliver on his promise.