Thailand To Allow Civil Servants To Have Labour Unions

[webfact]

Civil servants allowed to have labour unions

By Piyanart Srivalo

The Nation

A new law allowing civil servants to have labour unions was given the green light by the Office of the Civil Service Commission (OCSC) yesterday, according to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, who chaired the meeting to consider the matter.

The draft royal decree, which is in line with the state officials' constitutional right to form unions, will then be submitted to the Cabinet for endorsement before it is promulgated.

The proposed legislation allows for four types of unions for civil servants, ministry officials, department officials and provincial officials. However, when promulgated, the royal decree would regulate unions formed by civil servants and a separate law in the form of an act would be drafted to regulate unions of other types of state officials, according to the prime minister.

When asked if he was worried such unions would boost permanent officials' bargaining power against ruling politicians, Abhisit smilingly responded: "It is their right." When asked to comment on the possibility of civil servants pressuring their politician bosses, the premier said it would be dealt on a case-by-case basis. "But at this stage, the OCSC has to guarantee the bureaucrats' Constitutional rights and liberty," he added.

The Constitution's Article 64 states: "A person shall enjoy the liberty to unite and form an association, a union, a league, a cooperative, a farmers' group, a private organisation, a private development organisation or any other group. Government and state officials shall have the liberty to assemble like other people provided their assembly does not affect the efficiency of public administration and the continuity of the provision of public services, as provided by law."

Jessada Prakobsap, an OCSC adviser on the bureaucratic system, said the proposed royal decree was to protect the constitutional right of civil servants. He said the draft law was based on existing laws regarding state enterprise labour unions, the establishment of societies and the Labour Act.

The draft law states that each union should have at least 20 per cent of all the officials in each of the state agencies as members, according to Jessada. The unions would be required to register with the OCSC's secretary-general.

He expected more than 200 unions of civil servants to be set up all over the country.

Unions should not be established for political purposes and cannot be funded by any political parties or political office holders. The registrar is empowered to dissolve any union that violates this prohibition.

The law also prohibits unions from holding any strikes or protests against the government.

"Unions are expected to help protect the rights of civil servants and provide official legal aid to their members," Jessada said.

Meanwhile, OCSC secretary-general Nontigorn Kanchanachitra said yesterday that though he was concerned about problems erupting from the creation of unions because it was new for Thai bureaucracy, he did not believe there would be political intervention.

-- The Nation 2010-12-24

[Hawaiian]

Seems the right thing to do until you see that eventually the employees and not the employer make the rules and call the shots. Workers will be promised the moon. Politicians will cave in in exchange for votes. Then taxes will be raised to grow the voter base and forever expanding bureaucracy.

Thailand already has this, so why add another layer of corruption?

[asiawatcher]

Great - unions in Thailand - look at what they did globally and the problems they cause. Why is it Thailand feels it needs to follow the example of the west? The west is a failing system and Thailand has been insular to a point - why join a failed system! There is no freedom in the west - Thailand at least gives us more freedom than presently any western country does. Don't change! Unions are all about fleecing money from members, causing problems, continued wage demands that does not allow a commercial economy to grow. They do improve working conditions but corruption and unions go hand in hand. It's all well documented and even movies have been made about them. Get rid of the corruption first and then give Thailand another 50 years before forming them when the economy is super strong. To do it now is a recipe for disaster.