Effect given to the recommendations of the committee and the Governing Body - Report No 313, March 1999

Case No 1581 (Thailand) - Complaint date: 14-MAY-91 - Closed

Effect given to the recommendations of the Committee and the Governing Body

1. 62. The Committee last examined this case at its November 1998 meeting when it noted that the State Enterprise Labour Relations Bill which has been referred to by the Government since 1993 had finally been adopted by the House of Representatives in the fall of 1998 but was being challenged before the Constitutional Court (see 311th Report, para. 89).
2. 63. In a communication dated 4 February 1999, the Government indicates that on 12 November 1998 the Constitutional Court decided that the Bill was enacted contrary to the provisions of the present Constitution and the Bill therefore lapsed according to section 262, paragraph 3, of the Constitution. The Government stresses the efforts it has made to restore to state enterprise employees the right to organize and to bargain collectively and regrets that its attempts over the past years to secure the reform passage of the SELR Bill ended in November due to a determination based on legal technicalities that the Bill was unconstitutional. The Government reaffirms its commitment to reform the Bill and states that the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare has immediately reintroduced the reform passage which has been approved by Cabinet and forwarded to the House of Representatives, where it passed its final reading on 20 January 1999 and was forwarded to the Senate. The Bill has now passed its first reading in the Senate and been referred to an ad hoc scrutinizing committee.
3. 64. The Committee takes due note of this information. It must however recall that, during its examination of this case in November 1991, the Committee had noted with great concern the numerous and serious incompatibilities between the State Enterprise Labour Relations Act (SELRA) and the principles of freedom of association and urged the Government to take measures to repeal this Act without delay (see 279th Report, para. 482). The Committee trusts that the necessary measures will be taken in the near future to amend the legislation so as to restore fully the right to organize and to bargain collectively to state enterprise employees and requests the Government to keep it informed in this regard.