On December 1, 2021, at 09.00 hours, Permanent Secretary of Labour Mr. Boonchob Suttamanaswong presided over the opening of the meeting on Strengthening Social Dialogue Policy and Practices: Constituents Review of Social Dialogue & Tripartite Mechanism in Thailand. The event took place at The Landmark Hotel, Bangkok. He said that it is an important principle of the International Labour Organization or ILO, to which the Ministry of Labour has always adhered, under the sign of the three angels which represents working together in a tripartite form and the role of the Ministry of Labour as a bridge between employers and employees to protect labour rights and promote decent work for all.
Convention No. 144 on Tripartite Consultation (International Labour Standards) 1976 is one of the Governance Conventions, which contains provisions on the tripartite consultation mechanism between government, employer, and employee representatives on international labour standards. For example, responding to information and commenting on the draft documents to be considered at the International Labour Organization’s annual general meeting, preparation of various reports about the conventions ratified and not yet ratified by Thailand, the presentation of new conventions and recommendations to competent authorities within the country including the termination of ratified conventions. In the past, Thailand has worked with the International Labour Organization to study the provisions of Convention No. 144 on an ongoing basis. It has considered the ratification of Thailand’s National Decent Work Plan 2019-2021. It has identified the goals of feasibility studies to promote and integrate standards for Convention No. 144 and its ratifications. Although Thailand has yet to ratify Convention No. 144, the Ministry of Labour has several national tripartite mechanisms at various levels such as committees, subcommittees, and working groups that play a role in providing opinions and recommendations in policy-making and laws in all contexts of labour, such as recruitment, skill development, welfare, and labour relations, including benefits from the Social Security Fund and the Compensation Fund. He said that the Ministry of Labour would like to thank the representatives of employers and employees for their useful comments in all committees meetings.
In addition, the Ministry of Labour has provided a consultation process or notifications on the implementation of conventions to the employer and employee representatives to comment on the government’s actions on the convention. The Ministry of Labour shares the opinions to the ILO to present to the Committee of Experts on the Implementation of the Convention to consider following the relevant processes. In the past, the Ministry of Labour has received positive cooperation from employer and employee representatives, providing useful comments on the development of labour standards in Thailand following international standards. It has received cooperation as a tripartite representative of Thailand in presenting labour progress in Thailand to the world in international arenas such as the ILO Annual General Conference held annually.
Mr. Boonchob added that today’s meeting is an excellent opportunity for tripartite representatives to learn, review and strengthen their understanding of the key challenges in social dialogue mechanisms and future labour development guidelines. It is also an opportunity to follow up on plans to promote good labour relations, productivity, and valuable work, to further develop the country.
———————————
Division of Public Relations
