Main photo: Thanyarat Champa
Economic uncertainty, workplace burn-out and unfair treatment have prompted many workers to challenge themselves in their next roles and navigate a career change, with many of them capitalizing on a truck driving training course initiated by the government in collaboration with a transportation association.
Free of charge, the course not only helps enhance trainees’ skills but also serves as a springboard to start a career as a professional truck driver.
Best of all, it helps foster diversity and inclusion in the Thai trucking industry, while contributing to overcoming driver shortages.
Empowering women to become professional and safe truck drivers
The Ministry of Labour’s Department of Skill Development (DSD) has joined forces with the Thai Transportation & Logistic Association to create The Lady Driver, a professional truck driving training program for women in a bid to improve knowledge and truck driving skills and empower them to enter a profession dominated by men.
The DSD’s deputy director general Jirawan Sudsoonthorn says the department strongly supports women joining the trucking industry, and chaired the course’s inauguration ceremony held at the SCGLWD Academy in Saraburi’s Ban Mo District on September 9.
“Trucking has always been a male-dominated industry. We would like to encourage and support more women to get behind the wheel, which we believe will help address the driver shortage. Women drivers tend to be more patient, less aggressive and courteous towards other road users.”
“We hope that this course will provide the opportunity to advance trainees’ careers as professional truck drivers and become a safe and efficient drivers,” she said.
The Lady Driver program is a comprehensive truck driving training course that features classroom instruction and hands-on driving practice.
Free of charge, this 60-hour course was run between 9-20 September at the SCGJWD Academy and covered the basics of truck driving, from how to back up and park a tractor-trailer as well as basic maintenance, vehicle inspections, safety procedures and ethics in trucking.
The course was attended by 10 female workers from different fields. Trainees who have completed the training and passed the tests will be given a certificate and recruited to work with transportation and logistics companies.
An adventurous life on the road
Among the trainees is Thanyarat Champa, 28, a resident of Nakhon Ratchasima, who dreams of becoming a truck driver like her father. After working in security for three years, she decided to take on a new challenge and fulfill her passion.
Photo: Thanyarat Champa
With her father’s support, she took the course in effort to improve her driving skills.
“I really enjoy riding and driving. I ride a motorcycle to the office. I drive a car for long distance trips and to visit my family. The road gives me a sense of freedom.”
“I remember going to work with my father, who is a trucker, during my school breaks. We travelled from place to place and experienced the country as he moved loads on the road. They were such fun trips,” she says.
Thanyarat, who works as a security guard for a company, says that being a truck driver will allow her to travel across the country, which is difficult to do as an office-bound worker.
“I love visiting new places and meeting new people. Being a trucker means I can use my rest period to soak up the sights I pass through. It’s like having a job and travelling in one,” she says.
As a security guard, Thanyarat says she has to work long, regular, unsocial hours, usually 12 hours per shift. In addition, the company she works with make it difficult or impossible for workers to take annual leave.
“I am bored with my routine work and burned out. I come to work and go home. I don’t meet my family and friends. I want to start a new job as a truck driver,” she says adding that becoming a truck driver offers exciting and fulfilling career choice.
Truck driving is also a flexible career that gives drivers the chance to create a work schedule that fits their lifestyle, while the wages will also be a plus when compared with her security guard salary, she adds.
Thanyarat says she very much appreciates towards the complementary certification training course in trucking.
“There are only a few certification truck driving courses available, especially for women. We are so lucky to have this incredible course. It’s hands-on, experiential, practical learning. The instructors are knowledgeable and attentive.”
“They make sure that we feel comfortable with all techniques. The best aspect is that trainees are recruited to work for a transportation and logistics company. I’m ready to move on,” Thanyarat says adding that she has completed the course, passed the tests and been interviewed for a job.
Job security matters
When the economy is never consistently stable, the quest for job security has become even more critical than ever, something food delivery platform rider Kannikar Seamdee understands well.
She views truck driving as a secure job, with many companies in the cargo and logistics industry offering perks and benefits to their employees including rights and protections.
“Having a secure job makes me feel that work is there waiting for me every morning. It makes me feel secure in my role and safe,” she says.
Labour rights and welfare protections and employee benefits are of paramount impotence, she adds.
“If I’m hired by a good company in the industry, I will be entitled to rights and welfare under the labour protection law and social security law,” Kannikar says.
In Thailand, motorcycle riders who deliver meals to customers work without any basic labour rights or protection.
They are treated as freelancers and not employees by their food delivery platforms who refuse to provide proper benefits to their riders. Also, there is no minimum wage, paid sick leave and other welfare.
She is grateful to have been accepted for the Lady Driver course and says the program can create pathways for women to enter and thrive in this male-dominated career while narrowing the gender gap based on the share of men and women employed in the industry.
She urged the department to continue running the program in the future.
“This is a great program with top-notch instructors. They are friendly when working with new trainees with no experience in truck driving. And the training environment is very accepting and inclusive,” says Kannikar, who defines herself as LGBTQ+.
