ABSTRACT
Historically, labor policy in Thailand has emerged from contests that have involved competing constellations of economic, political, and ideological interests[1] Recently, these contests have been dominated by those particular interests aligned with Thaksin Shinawatra's Thai Rak Thai party (TRT) which formed a government in January 2001. During its first term in office, the TRT government has implemented economic and social policies that embody a broad twofold objective: first, to restructure economy, politics, and society in order to build a globally competitive capitalism; second, to manage the conflicts and tensions that processes of restructuring have generated. Labor policies both reflect and form a significant component of the government's pursuit of these dual objectives.
