Despite economic growth and declining poverty levels across Asia, inequality continues to grow, with large groups of society remaining economically and socially marginalized. The "future of work" debate pressures governments to restructure their development models towards innovation, digitalization and automation. Thailand`s economic strategy, "Thailand 4.0", promises to respond to the multiple challenges of the middle-income trap: imbalanced development and inequality through innovation and digital transformation, but stays true to the old concepts of neoliberal, "extractivist" capitalism and is structurally biased towards investors (Kosaikanont, 2019). Therefore, it fails to transform the economy towards gender and social justice. Local experiences of feminist workers` organizing can show alternatives to the current model.