The Committee for Asian Women held a conference on “Decent Work Decent Wage: Working Ourselves out of Poverty” on 28th April, 2010 in Bangkok, Thailand.  About forty participants from the workers unions including Try Arm factory workers; CAW member groups in Thailand – Thai labour Solidarity Committee, Thai Labour Campaign, Friends of Women, Homenet, Metropolitan Trade Union; non-governmental organisations -ILO, GAATA, Focus on the Global South, TACDB and other organisations interested in Wage campaign; and the personnel from the Ministry of Labour attended the conference.

CAW’s 2010 wage campaign calls for decent work and decent wage for women workers in Asia as a fundamental step to live in dignity, achieve a better standard of living and the opportunity to raise themselves out of poverty.

Lucia Victor Janaseelan, the Executive Coordinator of CAW, gave an opening speech. The sessions were facilitated by Mr Anoop Sukumaran from Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network (APRRN). The first session of the conference was the testimonies of the workers from Thailand and China including domestic workers and migrant workers. They shared their experiences on wage and working conditions of Burmese migrant workers in Thailand; impact of financial crisis on jobs and wages of Chinese women workers; wages and employment condition in manufacturing sector in Thailand and wage and working conditions of Domestic workers in Thailand.

The second session was the the discussion on wage and labour issues in Thailand and Asia. Ms Willaiwan Saetiew from Thai Labour solidarity Committee (TLSC) discussed on wages and labour conditions and Ms Poonsap Tulapan from Homenet Thailand discussed on wages and social protection for workers in informal economy in Thailand. After that, Ms Xenia Commandeur from GAATW made the presentation on the wage structure and labour conditions form migrant workers. Ms Silvia comaci, ILO, also presented on the economic crisis: confronting wage deficits in the Asian Decent Work Decade. After that Ms Rasri Benchathikul, the Director of Information Center the Labour Affair Department, the Ministry of Labour discussed on wage policy and social protection for workers: the role of Ministry of Labour in Thailand. Then the floor was opened for questions and answers The conference was successfully concluded at 1 pm.

The presentations at the conference can be downloaded as follows:

1) The Impact of financial crisis on jobs and wages of Chinese women workers, Yang Jing

2) Economic Crisis: Confronting wage deficits in the Asian Decent Work Decade, Silvia Cormaci, ILO

3) Wages and labour condition in Thailand, Willaiwan Saetiew, TLSC

You can download Asia Wage Sheet 2010 here.