1 June, 2011
The ICEM Thai Committee and the Thai Electronics Automobile Metalworkers (TEAM), the structure for IMF affiliates in the Southeast Asian country, joined hands and chanted for labour rights on May Day in Bangkok. They were a major part of a 1 May manifestation at Parliament and march along Ratchademnoen road to Democracy Monument. It drew 5,000 workers.
It was one of two May Day protests in Bangkok and both demanded attention from the government on some of the same issues. The Thai Labour Solidarity Committee and the State Enterprises Relations Confederation (SERC) joined the ICEM-TEAM work forces.
Both demonstrations demanded that the government ratify ILO Conventions 87 and 98, the core labour standards, and rescind Thailand’s 1999 privatisation laws. The two manifestations also called for Social Secrurity reform in terms of better protections made in administrative reform and tax exemptions on workers’ final payment schemes.
The ICEM-TEAM protest made other, worthy demands including protection for informal sector workers and migrant workers, creation of a specific government agency on job-related health and safety, revocation of the Public Assembly Bill, and allowing workers to vote in areas where they work rather than in their hometowns.
Many that marched along Ratchademnoen road to Democracy Monument chanted political slogans and criticisms of the current government as the time draws for national elections in Thailand.