ASEAN Social Charter would set a decent social safety net

ASEAN Social Charter would set a decent social safety net

Pravit Rojanaphruk
The Nation
Asia News Network/Bangkok

Nearly four decades after ASEAN was founded, labor activists
say it's time to push for an ASEAN Social Charter that would
guarantee a certain level of labor rights across the region.

Considering how free trade within the region has been pushed
by ASEAN political and business leaders, this is long overdue.
Thai labor activists and union leaders met last month to discuss
the possibility of such a charter, which would signal a shift
towards greater people's participation in the 10-country regional
block.

But any unrealistic optimism should be heavily doused by the
fact that the disparity in labor standards within the region is
vast.

Consider Burma, with its infamous forced labor inflicted by
the Rangoon junta on its own populace. The majority of the
estimated two million migrant laborers in Thailand are from
Burma; many are discriminated against and paid much lower than
the minimum wage. Some workers are even cheated out of being paid
anything at all.

In Tak province's Mae Sot, situated right on the northern
border with Burma, abuse ranges from extrajudicial killings to
rape, human trafficking, arrests and deportation, says the Thai
Labor Campaign, a Bangkok-based non-governmental group. The
organization claims that workers on the Thai side of the border
are paid only Bt55 per day, roughly one-third of the national
minimum wage.

Workers' freedom of movement is restricted by their employers
and worksites tend to resemble concentration camps rather than
factories. Child labor has also been reported, and one factory
with 2,000 workers has only 20 toilets on its premises.

People who think that Singapore is any better should bear in
mind that any unskilled female migrant worker who becomes
pregnant is usually deported by the island-state's government.

Combined with this is the pressure on poorer ASEAN nation-
states to compete with each other by paying the lowest possible
wages to workers, in order to attract foreign investors, on top
of subcontract work at near-subhuman pay.

"(ASEAN) is a heaven for investors but a hell for workers,"
said Sakdina Chatrakul na Ayutthaya, a labor expert at the
Bangkok office of Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, a German pro-labor
foundation.

Sakdina admitted at the meeting last month, however, that most
workers in Thailand and throughout the region still have no idea
what the ASEAN Social Charter is all about -- so it's time to
kick off a campaign to raise awareness. He said that the European
Social Charter could and should be referred to as an example.

Many at the meeting hoped that a minimum yet decent labor
standard and social safety net would eventually be endorsed by
ASEAN.

Labor leader Wilaiwan sae Tia said that ASEAN cannot continue
pushing for a regional free-trade zone without taking labor
rights into consideration.

She's right, although setting a common minimum standard will
not be an easy task. Intra-regional competition, especially
between poorer nations, for the cheapest wages with which to
attract foreign investors will continue, but a strategy to boost
the region's labor rights and protection would be a move in the
right direction.

There are some caveats that ought to be considered, however.
Setting standards too high may lead to an unattainable goal.
Cross-border solidarity is also needed, in order to ensure it is
a success. This won't be easy. Labor movements are no exception
to the ultra-nationalist ideology spread by each member country.
If the idea of a social charter cannot be explained as a goal for
the common good, a win-win strategy for all member societies,
then any hope of mustering any serious support for the campaign
will be dashed.

Nevertheless, it's definitely worth a try. Any attempt would
be long overdue.