BANGKOK, July 13 (TNA) – Dismissed triumph garment workers dispersed from their protest in front of the office of the Board of Investment (BoI) after the government agency promised to help negotiate with their employers to reduce the number of laid off workers.
BOI Secretary-General Atchaka Sibunruang Brimble promised to talk with management of Body Fashion, a Triumph subsidiary, and agencies concerned, such as the Ministry of Labour, to reduce the number of laid off workers.
However, Mrs. Atchaka said the BOI had no authority to order or force the company but could only ask for cooperation.
Protesters said they would allow two days for BOI action and would the return to ask for the result of the negotiation.
Six hundred former employees of Body Fashion (Thailand), a Triumph lingerie production unit, marched and submitted a letter to BOI office in Bangkok, claiming that a massive layoff at Triumph’s Samut Prakarn’s factory was the result of BOI's investment privilege to the company to build a new plant.
Following the layoff of 1,959 workers, Body Fashion (Thailand) planned to open a Bt75.5-million factory in Nakhon Sawan province in mid-2008, another Triumph’s industrial unit in Thailand’s central region.
According to Jitra Kochadech, Triumph labour union advisor, union members believed the firm wanted to relocate its production base to a site with lower labour costs and without a labour union. They also believed the company did not run into financial problems but that the ongoing economic crisis was an excuse to dismiss its older employees, mostly union members.
Although compensation was made according to Thai labour law, Ms. Jitra said the laid-off employees were restricted in finding new jobs due to their older ages. The union asked BOI to negotiate with Triumph to stop the layoff or that it should be done “more creatively” with fewer job losses. (TNA)
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