A growing number of Thai companies are using labour agencies and exploitive techniques to shirk the system and treat their long-time employees like temporary staff, writes SUPARA JANCHITFAH
Dismissed from his job driving trucks for Thai Industrial Gases on March 1 of this year, Chai (not his real name) was desperate.
He had been let go when he refused to sign a contract that would transfer his employement to Esteemed Corporation. He had never heard of the company before, and he had been presented the contract and the news of his transfer without warning.
"Why do we have to sign a new contract with new company when we have been working with the same company for two years? I have been working hard," he said.
Chai and his TIG colleagues were told that subcontracting workers through Adecco, the contracting agency Chai was officially employed with, was costly.
Chai and a group of 8 other contract workers who were weary of signing on with Esteemed Corp offered to work instead as a temporary staff with TIG. TIG allegedly refused; the workers would have to sign the contracts with Esteemed.
Sub-contracted workers are subject to routine exploitation. They are deprived of the many benefits regular workers are entitled to such as pay rises and health care protection.
These entitlements are why Chai and his friends want to be treated as regular employees of TIG.
He has worked for the company for two years, driving trucks, oftentimes for more than 12 hours a day and without overtime pay.
 |
| Dismissed workers brought family members along to demand their reinstatement. — SUPARA JANCHITFAH |
 |
 |
| Dismissed TIG workers found a building still under construction when they went to find the office they were supposed to sign a contract with. |
"We don't mind working hard," Chai said. "But it would be nice if our boss appreciated our contributions."
Like many others working at TIG, Chai was actually employed with Adecco and working under a sub-contract for TIG. While Chai did the same work, followed the same rules, and wore the same uniform as directly-employed TIG drivers, he did not receive the same benefits as regular staff, but as a sub-contract worker with no benefits.
When Chai was dismissed after two years of driving for TIG, he didn't have enough savings or the financial solvency to sustain his family for long.
Having learned little from TIG management of the circumstances that led to his dismissal, Chai grew determined to uncover the story behind the company he refused to be transferred to.
Fishy business
Chai began by making several attempts to find the Esteemed Corp office, but on all three trips, failed.
He had almost given up, when he went to a post office and asked about the location of the company. The postmen drew him a map that led him to a site with a building still under construction. There was only a mailbox, hanging from the hand of navy doll that was set in front of the construction site.
"I think I had come across this place before, but just never imagined that it could have been company that I supposed to sign a contract with," said Chai.
According to the Memorandum of Association document filed by Esteemed Corp with the Ministry of Commerce, Esteemed held several meetings at the address last year - two in September and one in November.
The workers are curious how and where Esteemed Corp managers held the meetings given that the building was still under construction when they came across it this March.
Chai is hardly alone in being employed under a sub-contract. Many big companies have taken to using sub-contracted labour to avoid the obligations and responsibilities that come with direct employees.
A publishing company in Bangkok, for example, has employed some of its workers to collect old newspapers and took them back to the warehouse, under a scheme where they sign a new contract every 119 days - a cycle of quitting and re-applying to the same job so that they are not entitled to pay increases or other incentives.
They make slightly more than the minimum wage, and as temporary workers, do not enjoy any other benefits.
People that are in desperate need of work or income for their families have no choice but to accept conditions that are stipulated by business operators
The technique of using the 119-day employment period is related to Article 118 of the B.E 2541 Labour Protection Act (LPA), which states that once a worker has worked 120 consecutive days, he or she is eligible for compensation when terminated.
The severance pay is only one of the reasons many employers do not want to hire workers full time. Under the same LPA, an employer must pay a special severance package in addition to the regular severance pay when an employee has worked for an uninterrupted period of 6 years or more.
Looking for loopholes
Many companies and business operators also exploit loopholes in Thailand's labour laws in an attempt to suppress workers' union rights. "Not ratifying the International Labour Organisation conventions has had a tremendous effect on union efforts to organise and maintain union representation at workplaces," said a labour activist who asked not to be named.
She believes the TIG case highlights one of the most significant problems facing Thai workers and labour unions - the increasing frequency with which companies are contracting, rather than hiring - workers through labour agencies.
"We might have to reconsider whether we have adequate law enforcement to protect our labour force, especially these vulnerable subcontracted workers," said Asst Prof Malee Pruekpong-sawalee of Thammasat University's Law Faculty.
The Thai labour movement has marked freedom of association and the protection of their rights to organise as its priority issue, and believe they have a daunting task ahead.
Other labour activists point to the increasing frequency of outsourcing and the rising number of subcontracted workers as evidence that attention needs to be directed at protecting this vulnerable group of workers.
Labour expert Lae Dilokvidhayarat from Chulalongkorn University said that subcontracted workers are too often viewed as commodities.
He says their contributions should be recognised, and that their needs are vast. "We should think about these subcontracted workers as human beings. They have their dignity like us and employers as well. They are entitled to benefits and pay equal to those working in the same job. They should also have negotiation power, they need social security like you and me," he said.
Labour Protection and Welfare Department director-general Padungsak Thephasadin na Ayuthaya said that these workers are entitled to protection under the new B.E 2551 (2008) Labour Protection Act (LPA) which has already been declared in the Royal Gazette and which took effect on May 27.
"I think many employees might have seen that the law has given more room for subcontracted workers, and that is why many of them have already expressed worries," he said.
Indeed, while the director-general thinks that the law will benefit workers, most labour activists and the workers themselves have a different interpretation of the situation.
Subcontracted work and lump-sum payment provisions are added to the New LPA which could be seen in Aticle 11/1 (see box).
The law states that business operators are the responsible employer of any person it has procured for employment or for the sake of production and business (i.e. a subcontracted worker), even if they are not the direct superviser or wage payer.
Interpretation of the law has already been very subjective.
For example, some officials have taken a very narrow interpretation of "production" and argued that because workers such as cleaners and security guards are not part of production, they are not the employees of the organisation that they work in.
However, if one considers that workplaces could not be run effectively without cleaners, then they can be considered part of production as well.
Labour agencies themselves are also problematic, according to such interpretations.
However, Chatchai Paiyasen, a TIGLU committee member, said that the law concerning subcontracted workers will benefit employers more than employees.
"At first glance, we might feel that the law would benefit employees but the fact is otherwise," he said, adding that many provisions regarding working hours, termination of contracts, and working conditions are ambiguous..
"We might have gone back to the slavery period when labourers were also the slaves of their bosses," he said.
Prev
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Next
