All Resources in Thailand

Since the 1980s the pattern in Southeast Asia, and other developing nations and regions, has been to suppress and maintain authoritarian control over labour and trade unions in order to maintain ‘investor confidence’ and foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows. Free trade agreements (FTA) are often falsely associated with improved labour conditions, more jobs, and better pay, but the reality is often far removed from this promise.

Dennis Arnold

There are between 1.5 and 2 million migrant workers in Thailand, roughly 80 percent are Burmese. This article highlights legal and social factors which contribute to the gross exploitation of migrant workers in Thailand, with a particular focus on Burmese workers in Mae Sot, Tak province, which is host to some 100,000 Burmese workers employed primarily in textile and garment factories, other manufacturing sectors, and agricultural work. Mae Sot is situated on the Thai side of the Thai-Burma border.

Chang-Hee Lee

Does a minimum wage policy protect workers who are under pressure in the ‘race to the bottom’ of labour standards in a globalising world economy?

Miriam Joffe-Block

By Miriam Joffe-Block,recently on a Fulbright research study on Labour Organising in Thailand where she worked with the Thai Labour Campaign and CLIST; Miriam has also been active in the USAS anti-sweatshop movement.

Background

10 May 1993 saw the world’s worst ever factory fire in Thailand. The fire in the Kader Toy Factory on the outskirts of Bangkok killed 188 workers and seriously injured 469. The workers, who were mostly women, were locked inside the factory in order to prevent them from stealing toys. Locked exits meant many of the workers had to jump out of third and fourth floor windows to escape from flames and fumes resulting in broken limbs and associated injuries.

Carolyn Jongeward

Junya Yimprasert and Christopher Candland

Contents

Feature: Labour Rights Under Attack

• Thai Workers in the IMF Era 2
• Philippines: Violation of the Right to Security of Tenure 8
• Japan: The Revised Labour Standards Law 11
• Globalisation and International Labour Standards 14
• Chinese Migrant Labourers in Macau 20

Action Alert

• Garment Workers in Thailand 22
• Striking Workers in Korea 24

May Day 1999

• Indonesia 25
• Taiwan 25
• Pakistan 26
• Hong Kong 26

Regional Roundup 27

Every year, according to the International Labour Organisation’s [ILO] estimates. over 220,000 workers die in workplace accidents. This trend is being exacerbated by the globalisation of the world’s economy. The ILO recently concluded that the “acceleration of globalisation and liberalisation in Asia had positive repercussions on the volume of jobs but not the quality.”