(ILO, Bangkok) The International Labour Organization (ILO) recently organized the ILO/Thai Trade Unions High-Level Workshop on Effective Trade Union Responses to the Global Economic Crisis in Bangkok for 50 participants comprising of labour leaders, union members and unionists.
In his opening speech, Mr Bill Salter, Director, ILO Subregional Office for East Asia cited the latest ILO Report on Global Employment Trends 2009 stating that global unemployment in 2009 could exceed 50 million workers. In the “worst case” scenario, some 200 million workers, mostly in developing economies, could be pushed into poverty. The ILO supported the campaign on decent work in collaboration with all stakeholders to develop strategic actions plans.
Mr Sawit Kaew-wan, Secretary-General, State Enterprise Workers’ Relations Confederation (SERC) commented that many of the terminated workers would not be able to return home as happened in the 1997 economic crisis because the rural areas in Thailand are also affected by the economy and can no longer accommodate the unemployed from the cities.
Mrs Sukti Daskupta, ILO Senior Specialist on Employment and Labour Market Policies indicated that this crisis would have a wide impact on both the formal and informal sectors from the global to the household levels. The three most affected groups would be low wage workers in the export oriented industries, migrant workers who would face further discrimination and young entrants to the labour market.
Professor Dr Voravidh Charoenloet, Faculty of Economics, Chiang Mai University stated that it would take longer to recover from this crisis in comparison to the 1997 crisis when the economy recovered in only 2-3 years. This crisis, he observed, had a direct impact on the real economy and was causing an economic recession the world over. Moreover, the economic growth rates of Thailand relied mainly on the 3L Strategies of low wages, low productivity and long working hours. Thai workers are among those working the longest hours in the world, in order to secure sufficient income for feeding the family.
Discussions among participants revealed that the most affected sectors were the automobile, electronics, hotel and tourism industries. All sub-contracted workers in the informal sector would be affected. As they have little bargaining power, they are among the first being laid-off. The participants considered that labour market information in the country should be clear, reliable and easily available. Otherwise, it was possible for entrepreneurs to cut down salaries or working hours or terminate employment. This in turn led to conflicts and labour disputes.
Different points of views were expressed on the Government’s measures to alleviate the impact of the crisis. Some agreed to measures such as a one-time payment of 2,000 baht for the low income groups and the provision of the 15 years free education programme. Others commented that some measures introduced by the Government would not provide adequate coverage to all groups of workers, especially those in the informal sector and migrant workers.
The workshop proposed several new measures for the Government, for instance taking a pro-active approach to the prevention of employment termination by setting up investigation committees with workers’ participation to explore the situation in workplaces in crisis to protect workers against exploitation and unfair practices. This approach would also allow on-time support to such workplaces. Tax exemption on the lump sum compensation for retrenchment has also been proposed. Recommendations were also made for the extension of the social security plan to cover 23 million workers in the informal sector as well as setting up a fund to assist jobless workers.
Print
Email