Guidelines for labor protection for the transition from the informal economy to the formal economy according to International Labor Organization Recommendation No. 204, Transition from the Informal Economy to the Formal Economy, 2015

Abstract

Thailand has a large number of workers in the informal economy. These workers lack legal labor rights, leading the Thai government to pursue a policy of transitioning from the informal to the formal economy. The International Labour Organization (ILO) issued Recommendation No. 204 on the Transition from the Informal to the Formal Economy in 2015, to guide countries in this transition. Objectives of the Study: (1) To study the concept of transitioning from the informal to the formal economy. (2) To study international labor protection standards in the transition from the informal to the formal economy. (3) To develop appropriate labor protection guidelines for Thailand's transition from the informal to the formal economy.

Study Results: The International Labour Organization issued Recommendation No. 204 on the Transition of the Informal Economy to the Formal Economy in 2015. Therefore, a comparative analysis was conducted on Thailand’s policies and the guidelines of Recommendation No. 204, which are as follows: (1) Establishment of a Tripartite Labour Committee on the Transition of the Informal Economy to the Formal Economy (2) Establishment of a Center for the Transition from the Informal Economy to the Formal Economy (3) The process of transitioning from the informal economy to the formal economy in a voluntary manner, in which the government should provide assistance through registration, starting from 1) tax rate reduction, 2) low-interest or interest-free loans, 3) reduction of social security contributions or compensation, etc. (4) The approach to enacting laws to be consistent with the principles in Recommendation No. 204 is to amend Section 88 of the Labour Relations Act B.E. 2518 by removing the condition that those eligible to establish a labour union must be of Thai nationality to allow those eligible to establish a labour union to be foreign workers, and to remove the text in Section 101 (2) so that the board of directors of a labour union does not have to be of Thai nationality by birth. and amend the Labor Protection Act B.E. 2541, Section 16 to protect against all forms of abuse and threats