The Studies of the ILO’s Industrial Relations Standards: A Reflection, and the Application Guidelines for Strengthening of the Industrial Relations Law Reform in Thailand, Asian and ASEAN Community Countries

Abstract

It is generally recognized that the law reform will further bring in the reformation of the relating social, economic and political activities in concern. The industrial relations arena is also affected by the change of industrial relations law affecting from the social, economic and political interactions. In the area of industrial relations, Thailand and the rest of the Asian and ASEAN countries, as the members of the International Labor Organization, are needed to find out what are the central matters of the ILO’s industrial relations standards and how to make use of them for the reform of the countries’ industrial relations law and industrial relations activities that further enrich country development. Among the ILO’s labour standards, vested in the ILO’s conventions, the industrial relations standards have been more than a half-century gradually produced and announced. The main scope of the labour standards of the industrial relations activities shaping the three stakeholders; employers, workers, and state; are especially announced through the ten conventions and recommendations;  1) Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize, 2) Collective Bargaining, Promotion and Agreement, 3) Voluntary Conciliation and Arbitration, 4) Co-operation and Consultation at the Levels of the Undertaking, Industry and National, 5) Communications within the Undertaking, 6) Workers' Representatives, 7) Examination of Grievances, 8) Tripartite Consultation,  9) Labor Administration, and 10) Labor Relations in Public Service. This article is thus aimed to grasp the central standard contents regarding industrial relations at the three tiers; firm, industry and national levels. Educating employers, employees and government officials by education institutions, workers’ and employers’ organizations and so on about these standards are therefore fundamentally important for law and industrial relations reform. In addition, the applications of the international industrial relations standards into national industrial relations law will be worthwhile affecting to the sound, peaceful and sustainable relationships among the stakeholders, and benefits not only to the employers, workers, and the state but also to the public at large.