Labourers reject bill on work safety institute

Speaking at a Bangkok meeting, the labourers agreed to submit a letter tomorrow to Labour Minister Phadermchai Sasomsap to ask for changes in the only version of the bill proposed by the ministry.

The so-called occupational safety and work environment institute is a public organisation independent from bureaucratic supervision, popular among workers and labour groups.

The bill does not include a clause establishing a complaint-receiving service, as the ministry said it would duplicate the role of the Occupational Safety and Health Bureau under the Department of Labour Protection and Welfare. A labour leader, Phornchai Tantiwitthayaphithak, said the ministry had in fact feared losing face when the service was set up and began receiving complaints from labourers.

Assoc Prof Worawit Jaroenlert, a lecturer on labour affairs, said the institute must be given authority to collect evidence after work-related accidents or to retrieve information in the ministry's database. He said there were only two members representing labourers in the 11-person tripartite committee, which was not sufficient.

Sombun Srikhamdorkkhae, chair of the Council of Work and Environment-Related Patients' Network of Thailand which jointly pushed for setting up the institute, together with the Thai Labour Solidarity Committee, said selection of a labourers' representative in the tripartite panel must be by free, direct voting by labourers across the country. "It should be one labourer one vote, not one labour body one vote," she added.

The chairman of the three-part panel should also be selected, not appointed, from candidates who were non-official, she said.