BANGKOK, 4 May 2015 – The Ministry of Labour is set to extend labour protection coverage to all groups of informal workers, according to a ministry official.
The Deputy Permanent-Secretary of the Labour Ministry Arrug Phrommanee has said regarding the management of the informal workers, that authorities must consider providing labour protection to diverse groups of informal workers that current work in the country.
He has said that the previously established ministerial regulations on labour protection to agricultural labourers, housewives, workers working at home, and fisheries workers are still insufficient in covering all categories of informal workers. Therefore the ministry needs to consider issuing additional laws to cover all the groups, such as contract farmers.
The ministry also needs to consider providing access to capital for informal workers as well, as currently the only foundation that provides capital to informal workers is only for workers working at home.
The Labour Ministry Deputy Permanent-Secretary has further said that coordination centers for informal workers in each province will have to provide service to the informal workers while coordinating with the provincial labour networks, as well as collecting the information of informal workers in each area such as the type of occupation, quantity, and contact information, in order to provide a wider coverage of services for the management of informal workers in the future.
