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7 September, 2009
A record number 364 union and management participants attended a Social Dialogue Conference in Thailand last week, 31 August, sponsored by the ICEM, the Thai Ministry of Labour, FNV Mondiaal of the Netherlands, LO-TCO of Norway, and the Employers’ Federation of Thailand (ECOT).
The title of the conference was “International Labour Standards and the Wisdom of Co-Existence,” and central in purpose was to shape a common understanding of ILO core labour standards, as well as building responsible social governance between Thai labour unions and multinational companies.
Over 150 people more than were expected turned out for the conference, held at the Siam City Hotel in Bangkok. Managing directors and human resource executives from 28 companies attended, including representatives from Esso, Linde-TIG Industrial Gases, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., and Norske Skog paper company.
Part of the Partipants at the Social Dialogue Conference
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda congratulated those present, and expressed hope that a true commitment to a new era of labour-management relations in Thailand was at hand. He also pledged to extend the resources of the Global Union Federation to Thailand in order that the country ratify core labour conventions, namely Conventions 87 and 98, freedom of association and right to collection bargaining, and Convention 111, the Discrimination in Employment and Occupation Convention.
“It is imperative that values of mutual faith and cooperation be built between managers of transnational companies and Thai labour unions,” said Warda. “For this to effectively begin, the Thai government must lead by starting the process toward ratification of ILO core labour standards.”
The ICEM organized the conference, jointly with the Thai Ministry of Labour, as a follow-up to a resolution from its 2007 Bangkok Congress. There, delegates recognized a Thai labour-management system structured on authoritarianism and hierarchal in industrial relations.
Yoshio Sato of Japan, representing ICEM's Asia-Pacific Region; in rear, ICEM Thai Chairman Rawai Pupaga, ECOT Gen. Sec. Siriwan Romchat-thong, and the Thai Labour Ministry’s Somchai Chumrat
ECOT General Secretary Siriwan Romchat-thong confirmed in her opening remarks that the employers’ federation would support ratification of Conventions 87 and 98. A panel discussion composed of labour, management, and governmental leaders showed a consensus toward ratification in the immediate future.
The Thai Permanent Secretary of the Labour Ministry, Somchai Chumrat, stressed the mutual benefit that can be gained through trust between labour and management by dialogue and understanding. “Employers cannot live in a vacuum,” he said. “Managers and workers’ representatives must sit together to discuss the wisdom of conducting labour relations in peaceful cooperation.”
He added that although Thailand recognizes the benefit of foreign investment, senior executives of multinationals must clarify the roles of local managers in Thailand so that they act according to international labour standards and national laws.
Another speaker that echoed the immediate need for a changed culture was Rawai Pupaga, chairman of the ICEM Thai Affiliates Committee and President of Government Pharmaceutical Employees’ Association (GPOTU). As a first step, he called on Thai workers and managers alike to show respect for workers’ rights by taking part in World Day for Decent Work activities on 7 October.
Other resource people calling for a different labour-management culture were Tim de Meyer, senior specialist for the ILO on International Labour Standards and Labour Law, and Lae Dilokwidhayarat of Chulalongkorn University. Dilokwidhayarat stressed that the globalisation of capital and freedom of movement demands respect for the concept of decent work, meaning adequate compensation, trade union representation, and stability, security, and protection of workplace rights.
A side meeting to the Social Dialogue Conference occurred between the ICEM, local executives of Linde and its Thai Industrial Gases subsidiary, and ICEM affiliate TIG Local Union. The Thai subsidiary of Linde has been neglectful over trade union rights at some 20 Thai workplaces, particularly in respect to work rights and full-time opportunities for short-term contract and temporary workers. The meeting did produce an understanding that TIGLU and the company’s managing and human resource directors would meet in the near future to discuss problems and strive for a better relationship.
Visit to the Norske Skog Mill in Singburi
One employer that has practiced exemplary social responsibility in Thailand has been the Norwegian paper company Norske Skog. On 1 September, Warda, Rawai Pupaga, ICEM Thai Project Coordinator Aranya Pakapath, and ICEM’s Asia-Pacific Contact Person, Phee Jungsun, visited the factory in Singburi, where workers and local managers, including Managing Director Torpong Thongcharoen, hailed a relationship that can serve as a standard within Thailand. Notably, the collective agreement at Norske Skog in Singburi has strict language regarding the use of contract and agency labour, language that both sides respect and adhere to.