BANGKOK (AFP) — Thousands of workers waving flags and banners gathered in the Thai capital on Labour Day to call on the government to raise the minimum wage and improve their welfare.
More than 3,000 workers from various industries across Thailand gathered for a rally outside Government House, where they handed in a list of their demands.
Speaking from a makeshift stage on the back of a truck, labour leaders criticised the government, which they said was more concerned with constitutional amendments than efforts to improve the welfare of workers.
"We will gather here with no time limit," Wilaiwan Sae Tia, president of the Thai Labour Solidarity Committee, which helped organise the rally, told the gathering.
"Today is the day that will prove whether this elected government is sincere about solving our problems or not," she said, as protesters waved Thai and labour organisation flags along with signs saying "Expensive rice prices, cheap labour wages," and "How can labourers live?"
Demonstrators demanded a minimum wage of 233 baht (7.35 dollars) a day and a curb on rising commodity prices. Many labourers around Bangkok earn less than 200 baht a day, while in the provinces daily wages are as low as 144 baht.
They also called for legal amendments to protect labour rights and improve their working and living conditions, while urging the government to stop its policy of privatising state enterprises.
"We have long suffered from stagnant wages while inflation keeps rising steeply," Arunee Srito, deputy chairwoman of the Women Workers Unity Group, told AFP.
"Whenever we labourers pleaded for a wage increase, the governments always told labourers to make sacrifices for the sake of the country. Have they ever wanted to see us live like other normal people?" Arunee said.
The protesters later handed in a letter with their demands to labour ministry deputy permanent secretary Nakorn Silpa-archa at Government House.
Nakorn said their demands would be put to a meeting between the government and employers' and workers' representatives on Friday.
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