Chris Slee, Melbourne
MELBOURNE - Two activists from Thailand discussed the conditions of Thai workers at a June 22 meeting in the Trades Hall bar.
Sompit, currently a clothing worker at a cooperative enterprise, previously worked at the Bed and Bath factory, which made clothes for transnational corporations such as Nike and Levi's. She had to work 14-16 hours a day - or up to 20 hours if a big job needed to be finished. According to Sompit, management used verbal abuse to pressure workers to speed up, and put amphetamines in the drinking water to keep them awake.
Eventually the factory closed down and the workers protested to the ministry of labour, demanding that it force the company to pay outstanding wages to the workers. This struggle eventually forced the Thai government to introduce unemployment insurance.
After the closure of the factory, some of the workers set up a cooperative. However, the need to repay a bank loan means that their wages are low.
Premjai, from the Thai Labour Campaign, spoke about Thailand's adoption since 1985 of a policy of export-oriented industrialisation. Production of clothing and shoes initially expanded rapidly, but then growth slowed due to competition from factories in countries such as China, Vietnam and Cambodia.
Premjai explained how mutlinational corporations such as Nike operate through chains of contractors and subcontractors. They contract much of their work to Asian companies based in Hong Kong or South Korea. These companies in turn subcontract work to smaller companies based in Thailand and elsewhere.
According to Premjai, this system produces a "race to the bottom" for workers' pay and conditions. Thai workers are competing with workers in countries such as China, Vietnam and Cambodia. This has led to low wages, long hours, unsafe conditions and factory closures. After 2005, factory closures are likely to increase in Thailand, when the Multi-Fibre Agreement, which allocates production quotas to countries such as Thailand, comes to an end.
The speakers described the weakness of the union movement in Thailand, where only 3-4% of factory workers belong to unions. The growth of casualisation makes union organisation difficult.
Sompit said that Nike's "code of conduct", which is supposed to ensure that workers are well treated, is ignored. She described how when auditors came to inspect the Bed and Bath factory, workers were told what to say to them and were paid a sum of money if they complied.
Sompit said that international solidarity with the protest at the the ministry of labour was very important in the workers' victory.
The meeting was also addressed by Katrina Nolan from the Fair Wear campaign who spoke about the conditions of outworkers in Australia.
[Visit From Green Left Weekly, June 30, 2004.
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