Making a top-five list of the most pressing labour and social issues of the year is no mean feat given that so much has taken place. That said, the Bangkok Post has summarised a handful of the most remarkable stories of 2023 for your reading pleasure.
Social safety net
2023 is the first year a Social Security board was elected directly from members. The election was held on Dec 24, marking a new chapter in the history of Thailand’s social security development.
Initiated some three decades ago, the social security system has gone a long way yet there is always room for improvement, especially in terms of public participation in managing the Social Security Fund and benefits for its 12 million members.
Back in 1990, various groups of workers, non-governmental organisations, labour rights activists and academics pushed to establish the system. They hoped for an improvement in the protection of workers’ welfare, particularly when workers fell ill or were injured in industrial accidents.
In the past, many workers avoided seeing doctors even when they were really ill because they did not have enough money to pay for their bills, said Arunee Srito, 70, a former president of the Thai Kriang labour union and one of the activists.
At the time many people campaigned for a better social welfare system. Thousands of workers gathered outside the old parliament complex on July 11, 1990, when the social security bill was given its final reading. Finally, parliament passed the Social Security Act (1990).
According to the law, the board acts as a moderator between the government and the Social Security Fund to manage the fund, which is now valued at 2.4 trillion baht. By law, the board consists of ministries such as the labour, finance, interior, and public health ministries, the Budget Bureau, and employers and employees.
Previously they were elected by labour unions before being appointed by the now-defunct National Council for Peace and Order. The Dec 24 election was the first time that SSF members and employers selected seven representatives apiece to serve on the board directly.
Unfortunately, out of 12 million members, only 150,000 people cast their votes. The winners were the Progressive Social Security group supported by the Move Forward Party.
No one left behind
After the war between Hamas and Israel started on Oct 7, a mission to repatriate Thai workers in Israel made headlines for a month. According to the Labour Ministry, about 30,000 Thais work in the Middle Eastern country and most work on farms.
In recent weeks the government has repatriated 9,475 Thai workers but about 20,000 more have chosen to stay on in Israel despite the government’s concern about their safety. Since the war erupted, some 39 Thais have been killed and eight remain held captive by Hamas.
Many who returned to Thailand, however, expressed their desire to return to Israel. The main reason is they need to pay off the debts they incurred to get there — an average of 200,000 baht when applying for a job in Israel.
They hope that a five-year contract to work in Israel will not only clear the debt but leave them with extra savings, as they can earn 50,000-80,000 baht a month there, according to the Labour Ministry.
On Dec 12, the cabinet approved a budget of 750 million baht to compensate the workers who have returned from Israel.
Of that sum, 473.75 million baht has been allocated for 9,475 workers who have returned home since Oct 7 and 1.95 million baht for the kin of the 39 workers who died during the fighting.
The Labour Ministry also promised to train them to increase their skills and offer low interest rate loans so the workers can live in Thailand with their families and find new sources of income. However, the offer is apparently not appealing enough as about 60% of returnees say they want to return to Israel to work.
Israel is now one of the most popular destinations for Thai workers seeking job opportunities overseas, in addition to Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and Singapore.
Paramedics check a knife wound suffered by Witthawat Kulawong, a worker attacked by Hamas militants on Oct 7. He and other Thai workers returned from Israel on an air force evacuation flight on Oct 19.
Wage rage
The cabinet on Dec 24 acknowledged a resolution by the tripartite committee on minimum daily wages to raise the rates by between 2 and 16 baht although Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said on Dec 28 that rate was too low and he was not happy about the rise.
The government, however, has no authority to interfere with the decision of the tripartite committee which is comprised of government, employer and employee representatives. But the government made a promise to push for a new hike by March.
The average 2.37% hike will take effect on Jan 1. It will allow minimum daily wage earners in Phuket, for example, to earn the country’s highest rate of 370 baht per day, up from 354 baht now, while their counterparts in Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat will be paid the lowest new daily wage of 330 baht, up from 328 baht.
Mr Srettha said the new daily wage still makes it hard for workers to live while their cost of living is so high.
He said the two baht increase for the three southernmost provinces is not enough to even buy a single egg. The government wanted to see a bigger raise as this is the flagship policy of the Pheu Thai party — to push the daily minimum wage to 400 baht with a promise to keep raising wages until they hit 600 baht by 2027.
Next year, the tripartite committee will meet again and they will have a new formula to calculate the increasing rate of the daily minimum wage.
A man earns his living on a daily wage. Starting tomorrow, daily minimum wages will rise by an average of 2.37%.
Beggar my neighbour
Six Chinese women with deformed faces and amputated hands were found begging unlawfully in Bangkok.
They earned a combined income of almost 2 million baht a month.
A probe into the issue followed an initial report by social media activist Guntouch Pongpaiboonwet, alias Gun Jompalang, about a woman in a school uniform with a disfigured face spotted begging in the Pin Klao area on Nov 10.
The woman was taken to Bang Phlat police station for an interview.
Pol Maj Gen Amnat Traipote, the deputy commissioner, said that from Nov 10-20, police arrested six disfigured Chinese beggars and fined three of them 100-500 baht each.
The Immigration Bureau blacklisted the six from returning to the country for a period of 10 years.
The six Chinese told the police that the scars on their faces and bodies were caused by a fire in China. They refused to give more information.
Pol Maj Gen Amnat two of the beggars shared a hotel room in Wang Thonglang district of Bangkok and the four others stayed at other hotels in the capital.
Police suspected the Chinese beggars were members of a gang supervised and accommodated by Thais.
One of the beggars, a woman, arrived by air in June on a tourist visa. She later applied for online education in Thailand and sought a student visa, which extended her stay.
The six Chinese begged in crowded places and tourist spots and cashed in on the natural sympathies of Thais. Each earned about 10,000 baht a day, Pol Maj Gen Amnat said.
Police suspected they were part of a transnational human trafficking gang. They reportedly sent the money they collected back to China, he said.
Sarawut Mulpho, welfare protection and life quality director at the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, said officials rounded up 7,161 beggars last year.
Of them, 4,688 were Thais and 2,473 foreigners, mostly from Cambodia and Myanmar. All were members of organised gangs, he said.
A Chinese national with a defigured face was found begging illegally in the Lat Krabang area on Nov 22.
Unesco calling
Thailand received two new Unesco World Heritage listings for this year: Si Thep Historical Park and the Songkran Festival.
The Unesco World Heritage Committee listed Si Thep Historical Park in Phetchabun province as the country’s fourth cultural heritage site on Sept 19. The announcement was made during its 45th session in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Built about 1,700 years ago, Si Thep Historical Park is recognised both for its cultural and historical significance.
It contains historical structures, including a Khmer-style prang; Thailand’s only pyramid-shaped hill, Khao Klang Nok; and a Buddhist stupa called Khao Klang Nai, famous for its Dvaravati-style bas-relief and mystical figures having a human body but different styles of animal heads carved around the structure’s foundation.
The site was discovered by Prince Damrong Rajanubhab in 1905 and has been listed as a national archaeological site since 1935.
Following various studies by archaeologists and academics countries about the site, it was proposed for Unesco’s tentative list in 2019. The required documents were submitted to the World Heritage Centre on Feb 28, 2022, before the announcement was made a year later.
Si Thep Historical Park in Phetchabun was named a World Heritage Site by Unesco on Sept 19.
In addition, Unesco added the world-famous Songkran “water splashing” festival to its Intangible Cultural Heritage items list.
That was announced at Unesco’s Intergovernmental Committee meeting for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Botswana on Dec 6.
The festival, set in mid-April of every year, is well-known to tourists around the world.
Songkran is an expression of Thais’ gratitude to their ancestors and sending of blessings and goodwill to others.
It is the country’s fourth Intangible Cultural Heritage item certified by Unesco, following khon performance in 2018, Thai massage in 2019, and the Nora dance in 2021.
Performers celebrate the Unesco listing of the Songkran festival to its Intangible Cultural Heritage list. The event was hosted by the Culture Ministry on Dec 7.