Rosy Blue: Respecting children’s rights in Thailand factories
“Every excluded child represents a missed opportunity. When society fails to protect its children it loses the social, cultural and economic contributions they could have made.”
What is the goal of the project?
To align our Thai workplaces with the CRBP by promoting safety, offering decent work, respecting human rights and avoiding child labour.
How has the project been implemented?
We took several actions on strategical parameters such as caregivers, wages, work conditions and the livings. First we supported the parents in their caregiver role towards their children by providing them decent work conditions and a salary package up to 40 -60% higher than the national minimum wage. In 2015 we also opened an on-site nursery to assist employees when they need help with child-care during work hours. Our internal policy is very understanding concerning breastfeeding, healthcare, family’s welfare or individual social guidance. To lead us through the implementation of means of support to increase the safety, we opted for the SA 8000 management system (an auditable social certification standards for decent workplaces, across all industrial sectors). We launched a houses renovation program for underprivileged employees. Finally we promote scholarships to employee’s children as basic education remains a challenging issue.
Impact
- For the business/the company
Our social policies lead to healthier workforces, linked to a better productivity. The SA 8000 management system helps us to succeed 7 million working-hours without any accidents, leading to an excellent record in terms of health and safety.
For the children
A higher wage impacts directly the child’s level of well-being, education and health. It also reduces child labour as parents do not need extra revenus for the family anymore. Our social policies support the parents in their caregiver role which impacts on the child health and well-being. The scholarships hampers the future development of Thai children.
On an overall context, with respect to the different registered themes
In Thailand 10, 8% of the population is poor and 7.7% of children is working. Thailand represents a high risk for businesses due to common child labour, to unexisting labour regulations. Thailand has one of the highest incidences of long working hours in the world.
