Thai bar girls seek labor rights
Since Kaew started her job as a Bangkok "entertainment girl" four
months ago, she's never received the full salary she was promised,
much less benefits like medical insurance or social security.
"I'm owed 4,000 baht (106 dollars) a month, but in fact I only
receive about 1,500 baht," said Kaew, who goes by only her nickname
to protect her privacy because she's ashamed of her
profession.
But because the 22-year-old works as a bar girl amid the neon
lights of one of Bangkok's most notorious red-light districts,
she's never dared complain.
That could change as activists and members of the National Human
Rights Commission try to extend labor rights to Thailand's infamous
bars and nightclubs.
Some 300,000 women are believed to work in Thailand's vast
nightlife business, which despite the country's reputation as a
free-wheeling holiday destination, carries significant social
stigma among Thais.
"They always feel that they are in a lower class compared with
other people. They will not fight for themselves," said Naiyana
Supapung, a member of the National Human Rights Commission.
"Their bosses do not want to fight for them either, because their
businesses are seen as affecting our morals. They don't want to be
questioned by society," she said.
Thailand once marketed itself as an anything-goes vacation spot,
but in recent years has tried to clean up its image.
The government toughened penalties on prostitution in 1996 --
although these are rarely enforced -- and imposed closing hours on
nightclubs in 2001.
But those changes have done little for the women who work in
nightclubs, where activists say they labor in venues that fail to
meet safety standards or provide guarantees on salaries and
benefits.
Concerns over safety at nightclubs have risen since a fire ripped
through the Route 999 disco in a seedy part of the beach resort
town of Pattaya and killed eight people.
All of those killed were working for the disco. Reports at the time
said that the owners had chained the fire exits shut to prevent
people from sneaking into the club.
Chantawipa Apisuk, the director of the Center for Sex Workers'
Protection, said seemingly inane issues can also pose serious
safety concerns -- like the decision by police in the northern city
of Chiang Mai to ban poles for dancing in strip clubs.
Dancers in Chiang Mai now have to use handstraps hanging from the
ceiling, but Chantawipa said that has raised the risk of injuries
for women dancing in heels on countertops.
Other bars provide no toilets for their staff, or charge them fees
to use the bathrooms.
The women working in the clubs are often intimidated into silence
because bar owners are required by law to fingerprint them when
they take their jobs, using the same forms that police do when
processing suspects in a crime, she said.
That practice intimidates the women working there, who fear they
could be easily prosecuted if they fail to obey their bosses,
Chantawipa said.
And since many of the women are paid under the table, they have
little recourse if they are underpaid, much less the right to seek
benefits like health insurance.
"Workers who work in the entertainment business do not count as
employees, so they are not covered by labor laws," Chantawipa
said.
"They should be treated the same as any company's employees -- they
also work eight hours a day," she said.