Workers seek social security guarantee

The informal laborers' network lamented they suffered greatly and their incomes lowered and blamed the Bt300-daily-income policy for the rising living cost and their jobs being taken by transnational workers whose wages were cheaper. The network planned to demand from Labour Minister Phadermchai Sasomsap the clarity about the Social Security Act section 40 if the government would pay contribution to the fund for them.

A seminar on the informal workers' strategy and management from 2012-2016 was hosted on Wednesday by the Labour Ministry and attended by informal worker representatives.

Calling for the government to create the income guarantee for informal workers, Foundation for Labour and Employment Promotion manager Phulsap Tulaphan said the informal workers were affected from the rising commodity price resulted from the Pheu Thai Party's voter-wooing policy for Bt300 daily wage hike and Bt15,000 monthly salary for Bachelor degree graduates. The employers also sent jobs to immigrant workers who charged one fourth cheaper than them, she added.

Phulsap's colleague Sunthree Hatthee Sengking urged Labour Ministry and related agencies to protect Thailand's 24 million informal workers including home-base workers, contract farmers and domestic workers. She urged the government to ratify the International Labour Organisation (ILO) home-based worker convention 177 and ILO domestic worker convention 189.

Sunthree said there were less than 500,000 informal workers joining the social security system through the Social Security Act section 40. This was because many weren't confident if the Yingluck Shinawatra administration would pay the contribution to the fund for them at the same rate, in which the informal worker subscribers paid Bt100-Bt150 and the government paid Bt30-Bt50 so that the workers could get the compensations in case of illness, disability, and death (as well as the retirement pension in case of Bt150 distribution). Sunthree went on that the network would soon meet Labour Minister Phadermchai Sasomsap for clarity about this matter.

An informed source reported that, since May, 480,000 informal workers joined the social security system through the Social Security Act section 40, while the Thai Labour Solidarity Committee (TLSC)'s call for the government to back the draft legislation on Occupational Safety and Health and the draft legislation on Social Security Act amendment, which currently were at the Senate's consideration. The draft legislation on Social Security Act amendment stated that the government shall pay distribution to SSO fund for the informal workers according to the section 40 at up to 50 per cent of the workers' distribution.