Nine demands for labour day

"They first of all want the government to ratify International Labour Organisation Conventions 87 and 98," Labour Minister Phadermchai Sasomsap said yesterday.

The ILO agreements provide for improved protection of workers' rights.

The government will be asked to set up a fund to provide compensation to laid-off workers whose employers have not given them any severance pay.

"They hope the government will waive the income tax on the last payment such as severance pay that the employees receive from their company too," he said.

They want the State Enterprise Capital Act scrapped and any plan to privatise state enterprises cancelled.

They want a law issued that ensures retired state-enterprise employees receive medical benefits that are as good as those for retired civil servants.

They want adequate inform on occupational health and safety standards in preparation for the establishment of the Asean Economic Community.

The want the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (Public Organisation) started up by the deadline.

"They also hope to see the government ban the import of rockwool," he said. Mineral fibres have been blamed in many countries for occupational illnesses, including cancer.

They will call for a welfare fund to be initiated for workers and for severance pay for |laid-off workers to be doubled, Phadermchai said.