By Ma Ma - Nov 12, 2024
Since the military coup, employers have increasingly been unilaterally violating Employment Contract (EC) agreements, which are contracts between employers and workers regarding employment terms.
Before the takeover, the Department of Labour had been actively working to ensure that factories, workplaces, and companies established employment contracts between employers and employees, using these agreements to resolve disputes in line with the terms set forth in the contracts.
Employment contracts typically include clauses on probation periods, wages, contract duration, working hours, leave, public holidays, paid time off, overtime, food arrangements during working hours, medical care, transport arrangements to and from the workplace, worker conduct, and other general terms.
Currently, employers are unilaterally revising the terms set in these contracts.
“Now, even though contracts are in place, they don’t mean much anymore. Even if we report violations of contract terms, the authorities don’t take any action. They say that the contracts we signed are no longer relevant. Some factories don’t even bother signing contracts anymore,” said one factory worker.
According to the Employment and Skills Development Law of 2013, an employment contract must be signed within 30 days from the time a worker is hired.
Additionally, employment contracts must align with existing laws and regulations. It is stated that “the provisions set in the contract must be consistent with existing laws, and the rights of workers in the contract must not be less than those prescribed by law.”
“I’ve been working here for a year, and I still don’t have an EC contract. There are a lot of violations happening at the factory,” said an employee at Real Star, a factory owned by a South Korean national.
Currently, the Ministry of Labour is weak in taking action against unilateral violations by employers, and there is a lack of systematic oversight, education, and inspections of business owners.
“We can’t just ignore EC contract issues and say they’re no longer important. Right now, there are more and more cases of contract violations, and some factories are even refusing to sign contracts altogether. The ministry’s level of accountability has become seriously lacking,” said a labor rights activist.
Since the military coup, the Ministry of Labour has stopped upholding legal standards and is now acting in line with the wishes of employers.
There is also no accountability in addressing the rights violations faced by workers. Instead, workers without the means to pursue legal cases are being pressured to file lawsuits.
