The Thai labour unions : identifying internal constraints to effective representation of members' interests in the workplace and in society (original) (raw)
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Recent Labor Relations and Collective Bargaining Issues in Thailand
During the recent economic crisis, globalization including economic and financial liberalization affects labor– management relations in Thailand, especially at the national level, with respect to various aspects, such as the application of numerical and functional flexibility, which leads to mass layoffs, lower job security, and more confrontational collective bargaining between employers and workers, and the roles of mass media, which broadcasts several cases in Thailand regarding unfair labor practices to people across the globe. In additions, the fragmentation of labor organizations and the inability to merge them together is a critical problem that will weaken the labor movement within the country.
Introducing Union Representation and Its Complexities – A Case Study of the Royal Thai Civil Service
Eurasian Journal of Social Sciences, 2016
This paper deals with the result of the recognition under the ILO Conventions 87 and 98 of the freedom of association and subsequent introduction of union representation in the Royal Thai civil service. As a consequence, the Royal Thai Government has changed the Constitution to allow for union representation in its civil service. A decree has been drafted and focus groups have been interviewed to establish the views of a cross-section of civil servants on their expectations and desires in being allowed to form and join a union. The paper discusses the approach taken to union representation in terms of collective bargaining versus joint consultation and centralization versus decentralization and the discourse that has surfaced as a result of the interviews between the policy makers and civil servants, particularly with regard to its context of a high power distance culture. The analysis provides the best practice and effective approach to the introduction of union representation within the Thai Civil Service.
International Journal of Business and Management, 2011
This research provides an empirical analysis of the factors influencing the strength of labor unions in Thailand in order to provide long-term implications for labor unions and labor-management relations in Thailand and other countries. The union's presidents, board committees, and members of labor unions in nine private companies and two state enterprises were participated in this survey. Based on 1761 valid responses from a total population of 44573 persons, our findings demonstrated that 13 factors tend to affect the strength of labor unions in companies and state enterprises in Thailand. Represented in descending order of influence, the macro-level (or national-level) factors include labor union association; mass media; cultural factors; labor relations law; economic, political, and population changes; and the role of government. The micro-level (or firm-level) factors in descending order of importance success in collective bargaining; labor union policies; union member unity; employer policies; financial status of labor union; union president and board committees; and the relationship between labor union and employer.
The Failure of the Labour Sector to Political Involvement in Thailand
2010
One from the ten principals of Democracy philosophy is the involvement of citizen. Labour in Thailand is one stakeholder that has minimal involvement in the political system compared with other developed countries such as the American Federation of Labour-Congress of Industrial Organization (AFL-CIO) which is a major influence on the Democrat party, Landsorganisationen i Sverige, literally "National Organisation in Sweden" (LO), The Labour Party in the U.K. etc. Research has shown there are benefits of the labour sector participating in politics such as (1) Protecting their own rights (2) Reducing poverty by improving income distribution (3) Peaceful reduction of conflict (4) Effectiveness, efficiency, and royalty (?) improvement. The major failings could be (1) Unity or conflict due to benefit of each group among labour is varying (?) (2) Laws (3) Knowledge or consciousness about political involvement by the labour force (4) Personal economic circumstances, and (5) Military coups. This research was conducted by gathering related secondary data, focusing on group interviews of experts such as government officials, NGO officials, leader of labour unions, employers, and politicians.
The Roles of Thai Labor Solidarity Committee
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This qualitative research was aimed to study the movement of Thai Labor Solidarity Committee (TLSC) and its alliances on the protection of migrant workers in Thailand. In this research, TLSC’s structure was examined as well as its strategies on the protection of migrant workers. There was the evaluation of those strategies in order to understand the impacts in different level. Data was collected from the in-dept interviews with 21 key representatives from the leading actors of TLSC, Thai worker’s union, labor related and migrant related NGOs, migrant workers and Thai workers during October 2008 – April 2009. The research found that TLSC had used “Human Rights” as the leading concept for their movement. TLSC had the clear structure in the administrative level. The main strategies of TLSC on labor movement in Thailand included petition, campaign and education, capacity building, information dissemination in national and local level and networking. All of these strategies had been used...
Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources
The International Labour Organization (ILO) promotes labour standards and decent work to counter a global 'race to the bottom' in terms of job regulation. By analysing Thailand's experiences, we consider three questions: 1) How might we characterize Thai capitalism?; 2) What are Thailand's labour market contexts for human resource management and industrial relations?; and 3) What is Thailand's situation regarding decent work and how is it related to politics, ILO labour standards and labour law? We identify two Thai labour-market contexts: state-owned and private enterprises where there is unionization (Type A); and public services/smaller enterprises/informal work where unionization is negligible (Type B). We find implementation of decent work is patchy. We suggest that Thailand reforms its tripartite agency to promote decent work and improve human resource management. These steps are more likely to be more effective and sustained under a parliamentary democracy than under a military junta. Our analysis has relevance also for other economies.
2000
The question that all the contributors in this collection address is whether the labour unions have or should have a significant role in the process of democratisation in Asia. Although it seems as if the power of the unions are decreasing in Europe, it will be argued here that the labour movement in Asia is on the return and has to be brought into the debate on the democratisation in the region. The changing international environment the last decades has led to a decline of authoritarian state power with its repressive labour relations, and the international organisations have also been relieved from the old pressure of the cold war period. A lot of the countries in Asia first experienced this changing political climate after the Asia Crises in the late 90s. Therefore we can now observe a growing awareness on the role of labour unions within Asia. This paper is based on a workshop in Oslo in April 2000 where three invited speakers talked about the role of unions from three differen...
Solidarity Formations Under Flexibilisation: Workplace Struggles of Precarious Migrants in Thailand
Global Labour Journal, 2013
Recent scholarship on precarious labour has called attention to global transformations in employment regimes, which have given management greater freedom in setting the terms of work. Such 'flexibility' in employment is associated with a decrease in work, wage and livelihood security; more temporary, rather than open-ended, job contracts; a roll-back of employment benefits; heavy restrictions on workers' collective organisation; and a greater reliance on migrant labour. To date, scholars have mostly emphasised the negative impact this transformation has had on workers' solidarity. However, as this article highlights, flexibilisation can also function as an enabler of solidarity. Presenting an ethnographic case study of a workplace struggle at an export processing zone in northwest Thailand, it is argued that where flexible labour regimes incite shared grievances among workers and occlude the representative role of trade unions officials, they have facilitated self-organised struggles among workers based on a clear sense of common cause.
Refining Varieties of Labour Movements: Perspectives from the Asia-Pacific Region
Journal of Industrial Relations, 2012
The papers in this volume seek to broaden the concept of ‘varieties of unionism’ by comparing the labour movements of six countries in the Asia-Pacific region: China, India, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Australia. While there is a great diversity of economic, socio-cultural and ethnic factors which have influenced the nature of industrial relations and unionism in each country, all have experienced the impact of globalisation on their labour markets to varying degrees. The repertoire of revitalisation strategies used by unions in Asia are similar, in many ways, to those adopted in western market economies, but their specific forms differ. The authors of the studies in this volume examine the factors which have helped and/or hindered union revitalisation in each of the countries studied.