More than 1,000 employees of the Office of the Basic Education Commission (Obec) on Tuesday began a street protest outside the Education Ministry, vowing not to disperse until the government formally guarantees their job security and restores their fringe benefits.
The protest came after Obec issued a letter on Sept 28 announcing the redesignation of more than 60,000 temporary school administration staff as outsourced employees, said demonstration leader Witchaphong Phumbunphak.
The change implemented on Oct 1, the beginning of fiscal year 2020, was met negatively by staff, said Mr Witchaphong, who is also president of the Federation of School Administration Officers of Thailand.
With the transition to the new hiring system and Obec having yet to receive a new budget from the Budget Bureau to disburse to its area offices, uncertainty has arisen over whether these staff will keep their jobs, he said.
The Sept 28 Obec announcement has also resulted in these employees losing their right to the employer's contribution of 5% to the Social Security Fund, which they fear will affect their retirement benefits, he said.
The protesters are calling on Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to step in to help all the affected Obec employees, he said.
The protesters want a revision to Obec's Sept 28 announcement and assurances that it will return to the cancelled employment format and restore all work benefits they used to receive before the implementation of the new designation, he said.
Despite previous assurances from Prasert Boonruang, acting permanent secretary for education, that job security and work benefits for these employees would not be affected by the new plan, Obec has already announced the cancellation of the employees' social security benefit, according to Mr Witchaphong.
Obec is an organisation under the ministry.
"So, we won't stop and go home until a clear decision by the education minister is announced," Mr Witchaphong added.
The protesters submitted an open letter containing their requests to Education Minister Nataphol Teepsuwan.
Mr Prasert, meanwhile, said he and Obec executives will on Wednesday discuss with the Finance Ministry possible measures to help ease the negative impact of the new hiring policy on these employees.
He said he will explain the situation to the ministry and urge it to switch back to hiring the Obec employees on monthly contracts.