Thai workers concerned over future prospects on eve of Labour Day

[Noi657]

Wait till 2015 hits and tens of thousands of motivated, hard working workers from SEA arrive.

Exactly... Then the whole 388, 488 baht per day becomes irrelevant. Thais will be thanking they're lucky stars they even have a job! Everything Thailand has been doing recently seems to mirror Europe, for example getting easy credit which ended in misery. Free labour movement, salaries get reduced because theres a pole or Romanian prepared to do the job for half the money or work for 60% less per day.

[justjoined]

Why doesn't it make me wonder, that in the news as well as here on TV the whole issue is reduced to wages and salaries. That is similar to the reduction of "democracy" to "elections". Both fall far short of the real issue.

Labour issues are about the rights of workers, about the situation and dangers of the workplace, about enough time to recuperate after work WITHOUT the need to do overtime to make a living. Only in that last issue comes the wage up.

Why are there no trade unions or other kind of effective organization of the labour force? Why can workers be locked out and fired, just because they have a demand or request. Why are people dying on the job because safety features were dismantled in order to achieve a higher profit? These things happen all the time and all over the country (and other countries as well...).

So stop reducing things to money, money, money.

Historically organized labour is not tolerated in southeast Asia. This is particularly true in Thailand which was on the front line of the cold war.

Safety and training/education are very important for not just workers but the country as a whole, but discussions are always centered around money.

Ppl often talk of the 'damage' unions have done to a country, but when you look at Thailand you can see how the lack of unions has really slowed the country's development.

Interestingly, one of the demands from Thai workers groups on May day is

....that Thailand ratify International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention Nos 87 (on freedom of association and protection of the right to organise conventions) and 98 (the right to organise and collective bargaining convention)