MMV/Thailand—At home, you may have a domestic worker from Myanmar, Laos or Cambodia. When going outside, one who waits in a restaurant may also be a person from those countries. We can also find them working on construction sites, fisheries, agricultural and industrial sectors. They are “migrant workers”, which now are necessary for Thai society and who we find in almost every place we spend our daily life. They also play an important role in driving the Thai economy. However, whether the importance of migrant workers is recognized by any political parties in Thailand is still questionable.

The NGO Network on migrant worker issues estimates that there are approximately 3 million migrant workers, both documented and undocumented, working in various sectors in Thailand. Though migrant workers have no right to vote in Thailand, policies on migrant worker issues will reflect the vision of each political party as to how they will address the long term economic and social problems of Thailand. The number of migrant workers is also an indication of the huge number of employers, who have a right to vote, and are hiring migrants for their business. This may be one of the factors impacting on their decision to vote for parties who propose policies that benefit their business.  As migrant workers are part of Thai society, people living in communities across the country may also want to hear about policies on migrant workers. There have been many studies, research and forum discussions on migrant worker issues that have made recommendations for long term solutions to address migrant worker problems. These could be useful for political parties, migrant workers and Thailand in general – if political parties who are aiming to form a new government, would consider some of these practical recommendations to include in their labour policies.

In the upcoming general election, July 3, 2011, there are 40 parties applying to be candidates. However, there are two major parties, the Phuea Thai (For Thai) and the Democrat Party that are in the spotlight to gain more votes than other parties with one of the two expected to lead the country. The other three medium size parties namely, Chartthai Pattana, Bhumjai Thai and Chartpattana Phuepaendin are analyzed as a key factor, or variable, in the formation of a new government after the general election.  These five parties have included labour issues in their policies. As the high cost of living is one of the key problems facing people in all walks of life, at least three parties therefore have emphasized on increase in minimum wages in their campaign under their labour policy. The Democrat Party promises to have a minimum wage increase of 25% within 2 years and emphasizes that this is an applicable policy. Phuea Thai vows for 300 Baht a daily minimum, and a starting salary for newly graduated students of 15,000 Baht per month. It plans to deduct 10% of corporate income tax within two years so that employers and businesses will be able to use that budget to increase the wage of their workers. Chartpattana Phuepaendin offers more than those two parties by announcing an increase of the minimum wage to 350 Baht within 2 years and an exemption from personal income tax for those new entries to the labour market for 5 years.  Phumjai Thai, though does not mention the minimum wage, and considers the root cause of labour problems to be that of rural to urban migration and the risk of unemployment. Therefore, the party aims to fund job creation in rural areas, especially in the agricultural sector and to set up employment fund available for 1 million positions by using the social security fund budget. Chartthai Pattana has no specific policy on labour but mentioned generally about labour skill development and capacity building to fit into the needs of market.

Currently the minimum wage in Thailand ranges from 159 to 221 Baht daily, depending on the province of employment; the monthly salary for newly graduated students (bachelor degree) in the government sector is 8,700 Baht; and the salary in the private sector is usually negotiable. Whether or not the policies presented by these political parties are realistic or applicable is not the concern of this article.  The issue instead is whether there are any political parties who are concerned about migrant worker issues: whether they have announced policies; whether their minimum wage recommendations will apply to migrants; or whether they will promote policies that protect the rights of migrant workers equally with Thai workers.

The Democrat Party mentions two issues about the “alien worker”.  Their labor policy aims to “systematically organize alien workers by focusing on legally entering the country and the opportunity of Thai labour to be employed.” The other point in the policy aims to “support employment of expert alien workers in targeted industries and to have know-how transferred.” The Pheau Thai party also state in their labour policy that they will implement an “alien workers management policy by utilizing the registration administrative system and deduction of red tape in the employment of alien workers. There will be also organizing and scoping the area of a special economic zone on labour. This is to ensure the labour security in terms of standard and high quality of safety.”

Bhumjai Thai and Chart Thai Pattana do not mention migrant workers at all.  In fact  Chartpatana Pheupaendin is the only party which mentions migrant workers in one of its foreign policies that aims to “monitor and follow up the migrant workers systematically.”  It is elaborated in one more sentence that it will cooperate with concerned agencies both in the country and foreign countries to address and manage the problem of migrant workers, which has an impact on Thailand systematically.”

According to the policies of the political parties mentioned above, it can be concluded that although some parties have mentioned migrant workers in their policies, they have a very broad and sketchy analysis which is primarily focused on the issue of the management of workers – which each past government has done on an annual basis. Unfortunately, nothing in the broader labour campaigns of the political parties will be applied to migrant workers. There is no party that is brave enough to go further to talk about the right issues or labour rights protection for migrant workers to ensure their safety or social security – despite the fact that migrant workers have helped to drive the Thai economy for almost two decades./