Activists Bank On Own Media To Promote The Cause Of Labour

[Lite Beer]

Activists bank on own media to promote the cause of labour

By Pravit Rojanaphruk

The Nation on Sunday.

In an attempt to solve the problem of lack of quality news about the labour movement, two labour activists launched a website and a monthly newspaper late last year and it has proved to be an essential media to communicate relevant news and information to factory workers, labourers and domestic helpers across the country.

The eight-page Voice Labour monthly newspaper was launched last December to complement the voicelabour.org website, which is not readily accessible to workers with limited cash and Internet connectivity, said Wasana Lamdee, coordinator of the two-year project with a budget of Bt2.8 million funded chiefly by the Health Promotion Funds (Sor Sor Sor) and the Thai Labour Museum.

Uniquely for its publication, the paper enlisted 60 contributors from various regions, all of whom are workers.

"The labour movement has so many news and stories to tell but little appears in the mainstream media," said Wasana, herself a former factory worker. Wasana added that many workers nowadays have little class consciousness and do not even know Marxism, or issues such as social welfare protection.

Wichai Narapaiboon, manager of the project, said some mainstream mass media have started to pick up stories from Voice Labour and develop it into news stories for wider audiences. "It has been acting like a catalyst for the mainstream mass media," he said.

Both admit that it's been a challenge to teach workers to write. They sought help from reporters from both the mainstream media and alternative media such as prachatai.com to hone their writing skills.

Wasana lamented how many Thai mainstream reporters stop working on the labour beat when they become more experienced and how fewer and fewer reporters are having the labour beat. "Labourers are a large section of Thai society but there's little news about them."

Wichai feels the bigger challenge is not the lack of interest amongst mainstream mass media but the stereotype perception amongst the media and the middle class that blue-collar workers are "worthless" and not an important contributor to society.

Wasana says workers should share some of the blame, as even those of them who use Facebook or other social networking sites tend to be disinterested in labour rights.

Domestic workers abused

Page 4 of the first edition of Labour Voice contains a story about the great number of domestic helpers, or housemaids, who do not enjoy the right to rest during weekends or a holiday. Some employers deduct at Bt400 per day when these workers take a day off, even though their wage is only about Bt180 per day.

Part of the problem, according to the article, is the lack of any written contract, which enables some of the employers to pay less than they promised.

Wichai said their newspaper is now attracting the attention of not just workers and labour-beat reporters but even some employers themselves. He hopes some good employers might be able to pick up some good ideas to improve the lot of their workers.

Both are aware, however, that the labour movement, just like the larger Thai society, is often divided politically into red and yellow shirts. The two insist they try to tread carefully and avoid political debates, as they believe there exist enough forums for political debate.

Wasana used to be very close to former labour leader Somsak Kosaisuk, the leader of the yellow shirts' political wing: the New Politics Party. But now she differs with Somsak's political position due to what she believes is the anti-democratic stance of the yellow shirts and the lack of a pro-labour stance. She also feels estranged from former labour activist Somyos Prueksakasemsuk, who became a supporter of Thaksin Shinawatra and the editor of Red Power magazine.

"I don't think being red shirt is right for me," said Wasana. "But I'm definitely not for yellow shirt."

Wichai thinks blue-collar workers should recognise that both the red and yellow shirts do not have labour's interests at heart and are only led by two competing groups of elites.

"We tried not to be a political-debate website. There are many such sites already," said Wichai, adding he is concerned that the divide between the red and yellow shirts may blind workers from thinking about many important labour issues.

-- The Nation 2011-05-01

[asiawatcher]

"... "I don't think being red shirt is right for me," said Wasana. "But I'm definitely not for yellow shirt."

Wichai thinks blue-collar workers should recognise that both the red and yellow shirts do not have labour's interests at heart and are only led by two competing groups of elites.

"We tried not to be a political-debate website. There are many such sites already," said Wichai, adding he is concerned that the divide between the red and yellow shirts may blind workers from thinking about many important labour issues."

Now here is a party worth a vote - go for it guys! At last some common sense and logic in a political cesspool of BS.

[tigermonkey]

She is right -- I dont recall seeing any red or yellow shirts with blue collars.

Never mind -- its all about growing large, powerful ( and very rich ) union organizations, which can, no doubt, create the same miracles for the Thai economy, that they have done in UK and USA.

Edited May 1, 2011 by tigermonkey