TITLE: Nine Months of Thai Krieng (Durable) Workers Struggle

AUTHOR: Lek

PUB:

DATE: March 6, 2001

About 60 of 390 Thai Krieng workers are still camped out in front of the basement of Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare building. The union is now involved in several court cases. Most of these involve the employer's suits against the unions for damage to the company and illegal use of water and electricity. Union members have been forced to appear in court 14 times to deal with only one suit. It is estimated that this suit will take five to six years to resolve. This was obviously a successful employer tactic to tie up the workers in legal proceedings. Eight lawyers have volunteered to look over the Thai Krieng court cases, but it will still take a very long time to resolve. The workers have waited patiently for the new Minister for Labour to come into office and to oversee their dispute. During this period, about 40-50 workers were no longer able to tolerate the difficulties of living without salary and have resigned with an agreement to receive only 3 months of legally 10 months severance payment.Out of 532 workers who returned to the factory since 27 October 2000 and were faced with temporary layoffs due to the fire, 105 workers have still not yet been called in to work. Of those 390 dismissed workers, 60 workers are still conducting ongoing protests with visits from friends from the union who have gone on to take other jobs. The names of many of these workers have been sent to all the factories in the industry which has rendered these workers unable to find jobs in the textile industry. Thus. many workers are under pressure to do jobs in which they are underpaid and provide no legal protection while waiting for their dispute to be settled. Many male workers are driving motorcycle taxis or have found work as guards. Women workers have found work as dish cleaners for restaurants and as domestic helpers, which pay them only about 100 baht a day. Thailand minimum wage is 165 Baht a day in Bangkok and its suburbs. For those workers who are protesting at the MOL, they are still making small things to sell just to earn income during the protest. Twenty nine workers are now studying an intensive training course on traditional massage provide by the Ministry of Labour. It is possible that the Ministry of Labour wishes to provide them with a new skill set in order to hasten their exit from the Ministry. However, if the Minister really wants to solve the problems of Thai Krieng, he should intervene and order the employer to reinstate the workers and bargain in good faith with the union. The Deputy Minister for Labour who is in charge on the labour dispute cases has set up a committee to handle the Thai Krieng dispute. The workers have some hope that with this new cabinet, their problem will be solved. END top