8.2.9 Employment practice labour rights
Metric: Employment practice
Recognise labour rights (freedom of association and collective bargaining) for all, including women and international staff.
Prince of Songkla University recognises the importance of employee participation, representation, and fair labour practices.
Under the Prince of Songkla University Act B.E. 2559 (2016), the University formally recognises mechanisms for staff participation in University governance. The Act establishes a Faculty Senate, representing academic staff, and a Staff Council, representing non-academic employees. These bodies provide formal channels for staff to raise concerns, submit proposals, and provide recommendations to the University Council and the President on matters affecting staff welfare, personnel administration, employment conditions, and institutional development.
The Act also requires that University employees receive employment protection and benefits no less favourable than those provided under Thailand’s labour protection framework.
Faculty Senate and Staff Council
The Faculty Senate represents academic staff, while the Staff Council represents professional, administrative, and support staff. Through these representative bodies, employees are able to participate in consultation with University management and contribute to discussions concerning staff rights, welfare, benefits, remuneration, and working conditions.
In 2025, these representative mechanisms were actively used in discussions on employee welfare and remuneration. For example, staff representatives participated in discussions on welfare satisfaction, proposed improvements to death-related welfare benefits in response to current living costs, and raised issues concerning salary structures and compensation for newly appointed academic staff.
Figure 1. Key provisions of the Prince of Songkla University Act B.E. 2559 (2016), formally recognising the Faculty Senate and Staff Council as representative bodies for University employees.
Figure 2. Examples of staff welfare and remuneration issues discussed through PSU employee representative mechanisms in 2025.
Staff Welfare and Rights Awareness
The Staff Council also supports employees by promoting awareness of employment rights, welfare provisions, and University benefits.
In 2025, the PSU Surat Thani Campus Staff Council organised a knowledge-management programme on employee welfare and benefits. The programme helped staff better understand their welfare entitlements and University funds and provided an opportunity for employees to exchange experiences and submit suggestions for improving welfare provisions.
Figure 3. PSU Surat Thani Campus Staff Council’s 2025 programme on employee welfare and benefits, providing staff with information on their rights and opportunities to share suggestions for improving welfare provisions.
Inclusive Participation
PSU’s employee representation mechanisms are intended to support broad participation across staff groups, including women and international employees. The University also provides dedicated employment guidance and administrative support for foreign employees, covering areas such as employment contracts, salary arrangements, leave, benefits, and performance appraisal procedures.
Through its formal representative bodies, consultation mechanisms, and employment support systems, PSU promotes employee participation, freedom of association, and fair treatment across the University.