Aug 18 , 2021. Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan chaired the meeting to discuss the work of Labour Ministry done during the past year, which has been satisfactory, especially in providing timely assistance to workers and thus playing important role in driving the vital and urgent government policies.
However, with the COVID-19 pandemic still ongoing, he tasked the Ministry to the followings:
1) help distribute the vaccines, especially in red zone areas, and expedite the vaccination in labor camps.
2) speed up the relief measures for those affected by the lockdown in 29 dark red zone provinces, including the employers and the insured workers under Section 33, 39 and 40 of the Social Security Act.
3) build awareness on self-care among the workers and Ministry’s personnels to prevent themselves from COVID-19.
4) manage the Factory Sandbox project comprehensively where factories can attend on a voluntary basis and COVID-19 screening to be conducted thoroughly. If workers are infected, urgent care and assistance are to be provided promptly in accordance with public health measures.
5) manage foreign workers according to the laws and public health measures.
6) enhance efforts to prevent and combat labor trafficking in accordance with international standards and ensure that government officers refrain from complicity. Otherwise, they will be prosecuted accordingly both on disciplinary and criminal charges.
7) upgrade workers’ skills through online channels, especially digital skills such as creating online shops and producing advertisements or short films by smartphones.
According to Mr. Suchart Chomklin, Labour Minister, the Ministry currently oversees almost 38 million formal and informal workers and has a mission to ensure their capacity and quality of life. In the past year, the Ministry has driven achievements on four fronts as follows:
- Skill development: The Ministry provided up-skill, re-skill, and new-skill training in order to match workers’ capacity with the current a new normal labor market.
- Employment promotion: The Ministry organized Job Expo Thailand 2020 which created more than 1,313,591 jobs. The Thai Mee Ngarn Tam platform (https://www.ไทยมีงานทำ.com/) has filled up more than 800,000 positions. 45,769 workers have been sent abroad creating 153,006 million Baht revenue. The Ministry also managed migrant workers in response to the COVID -19 situation and ensured their quality of life. 650,000 migrant workers have been registered and 505,202 have had their biometrics data collected.
- Labor protection: The Ministry utilizes Employee Assistance Fund and labor relation system to ensure workers’ benefits. 16,000 cases of unfair dismissal have been resolved amounting to 850 million baht budget. 1,211 workplaces have been inspected to prevent human trafficking.
- Labor quality of life: Mechanism under Social Security Office have been utilized during the COVID –19 pandemic. The insurance fee was reduced 4 times for 12 million workers and 480,000 employers, resulting in cash flow of 24,000 million baht. The Ministry also launched the Section 33 We Love Each Other project, covering over 8 million people, and provided remedies to employees in 29 provinces in dark red zone, which included proactive screening, vaccination, and comprehensive treatment.
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