Labor policy and administration
Worker rights
Local Workers on Lao-China Railway Say They Have Gone Without Pay For Months
Up to 30 Lao workers building a nearly completed railway project that will connect landlocked Laos with China say that they have not been paid in three to four months, because their Chinese employers left the area and went home early this year amid the ...
Reported by RFA’s Lao Service, Translated by Sidney Khotpanya. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin
7 million jobs at risk in post-Covid-19 Thailand
Shutdowns from the pandemic could trigger a tsunami of job losses in Thailand especially for employees who don’t have a regular salary, low-paid workers and people without a written contract. The Joint Standing Committee on Commerce, Industry and Banking (JSCCIB) says that as much as 7 ...
Olivier Languepin
Migrant workers’ unemployment may hinder disease control
As the Thai economy is heavily impacted by government attempts to control the COVID-19 outbreak, experts believe that the situation for migrant workers may contribute to the epidemic. Proper policies and employment support are needed to set things right. It has been 2 weeks since Rachen ...
Yiamyut Sutthichaya
Academics urge govt to boost labour rights protection in response to GSP suspension
Academics say Thailand has not been adequately protecting workers’ rights – both Thai and foreign – and though there is some improvement, existing laws and regulations still limit their rights. Their comments came after the US Trade Representative (USTR) announced last week that President Donald Trump ...
Wichit Chaitrong
Asean countries struggling with inadequate labour skills
About half the population of the Asean region live in rural areas and suffer from a shortage of quality jobs and underemployment. In addition, rural people lack training opportunities in line with the needs of the labour market and suffer from the traditional exclusion of ...
Myanmar, Cambodia lead Asean’s soaring minimum wage growth
Countries across Asean are experiencing rapid economic growth, and the associated improvements to the standard of living are conspicuous. Increasing trade means increasing wages — and wage growth is integral to the growth of regional economies. Keep reading ...
Cambodia’s inequality reduction rank down: Oxfam
Oxfam has indicated that Cambodia ranked 121 out of 157 countries in this year’s inequality index, a drop when compared to last year’s position of 111 out of 152 countries. The Commitment to Reducing Inequality Index 2018 said Cambodia’s current ranking is attributed to poor ...
Mekong River water level above warning line in Southern Laos, flooding 161 villages
The governor of Lao province Champasak, Bounthong Divixay, said that until Monday, the water level of the Mekong River is 49 centimeters above the warning line and over a hundred villages around the province are flooded, including 24 villages of the province’s capital city Pakse, ...
ASEAN nations must talk so that their labourers can walk
Migration within Southeast Asia is expected to increase as the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) continues to promote freer movement of skilled workers across the region. Better labour mobility will help create a highly integrated and cohesive ASEAN economy. But there are barriers to migration within ...
Workers in Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia call for better pay, benefits
Hundreds of workers took to the streets in Myanmar on Tuesday to call for a living wage, while in Laos marchers asked for social welfare benefits and better protection for citizens working abroad, sources said. Meanwhile, in Cambodia, workers gathered but were forbidden to march, ...
