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On 31 August 2009, a core group of trade unions and workers organization as well as other civil society organizations gathered to follow up and deliberate on the campaign activities to further push for the ratification of core labour standards in Thailand. As part of the preparations to the negotiation process, a full report on the "Impact of Non-Ratification of ILO C87&98 to Thai Workers" was submitted to the ILO Director and Thai Prime Minister on 15 September 2009 followed by a demostration and handing over of petition on 7 October 2009 at the UN premises and the Government House.



Since the beginning of 2010, spanning over the past 6 months, an ILO Convention 87 and 98 Working Group has been conducting fieldwork and mutiple grassroots education. Thus far, more than 30,000 educational flyers, 3,000 posters, 5,000 booklets have been disseminated at various industrial work places and these efforts would be expected to continue.



In response, this is what Mr.Panus Thailuan, National Economic and Social Advisory Committee, Labour Development Department said at the “The 99th International Labour Conference” (ILC), Geneva, Switzerland

“With regards to the situation of the labour movement in Thailand, and although the Thai Government has not ratified ILO Conventions Nos 87 and 98, Thai workers have all the rights and freedoms provided for therein. With regard to collective bargaining, workers have full rights to bargain with their employers, and also the right to strike without any intervention by the Government, even though the Government has not ratified Convention No. 98.”



The Joint Working Team on the Campaign for Ratification of core ILO Conventions is composed of labour councils; workers federations; groups of workers unions; State-Enterprise Relation Confederation (SERC); Thai Labour Solidarity Committee (TLSC); UNI-TLC; and other non profits organizations.



For more information on this campaign, please visit http://ilo8798.blogspot.com/