Suayden, a young woman from rural Thailand, moves to Bangkok and gets a job at a factory. Soon, she develops back pain and other job-related injuries that make it too painful to work.
So what should she do?
She joins with co-workers to ask the boss for improved work stations—but not before dancing through the factory to catchy pop music.
“Suayden” is featured in a new high-energy video by the Confederation of Industrial Labor of Thailand (CILT), part of the new confederation’s outreach to nonunionized workers.
Jamming together in the fluorescent-lit factory, Suayden and her co-workers sing:
“Working in da same plant, we understand, we hold our hands.
Go tell the boss when work’s not right, when work’s too long, when work’s too tight.
Working in da same plant, we understand, we hold our hands.
Go tell our friends when work’s not right, when work’s too long, when work’s too tight.”
After the boss improves working conditions, the plant makes more money—and so do the workers.
CILT, an affiliate of IndustriALL global union, formed in 2013 as part of Thai workers’ efforts to revitalize the trade union movement. It represents some 153,000 workers in the electronic and electrical appliances, auto, steel, chemical, rubber, materials, paper, textile, garment, leather, oil, gas and electricity in Thailand.