Restructuring plans that are purportedly geared toward reviving Thailand’s struggling flag provider Thai Airways Worldwide (THAI) are being opposed by staff who’re set to face job losses and pay cuts. On Friday, March 12, commerce union leaders representing the employees of THAI met Thailand’s labor minister Suchart Chomklin to boost their complaints over the brand new employment contracts that they declare are each “unfair and unlawful.”
The restructuring plans embody a drastic discount of the workforce of THAI from 19,500 to 13,000-15,000 within the subsequent 5 years. It can additionally embody a revision of contracts of 1000’s of workers and anyplace between 5,000 to six,000 voluntary redundancies. Union president Siripong Sukrakanchanachoke and union advisor Nares Puengyam, who met with Chomklin, argued that the brand new contracts will considerably lower down wages and advantages.
Regardless of the corporate’s denials, the labor union has constantly alleged that THAI put stress on its workers to enter into new work agreements, together with asking them to resign and re-enter with new contracts. This was evident by its resolution to have all staff who select to proceed working to use for brand spanking new contracts between March 11 and 19.
In response to Siripong, as reported by the Jakarta Submit, the brand new agreements stand in violation of the State Enterprise Relations Act, and are opaque and threaten job safety. He claimed that staff are additionally not given sufficient data of the place they are going to be assigned or if they’ve a future within the firm.
The criticism comes days after the same case of staff being coerced into unfavorable contracts conducting a large protest in Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport. On Wednesday, near 300 airport safety staff working with the AOT Aviation Safety (AOT AVSEC) held protests in opposition to new contracts that the corporate has been forcing on the staff.
AOT AVSEC is a three way partnership of the Airports of Thailand (AOT) and three personal corporations, and was launched in 2020. Staff have argued that after the establishing of the agency to deal with safety within the airports, working situations have solely worsened, particularly through the pandemic.
Throughout the protest, Ampai Wivatthanasathapat, president of a staff’ union on the Suvarnabhumi airport acknowledged that “COVID-19 has hit each staff and companies onerous, however companies are additionally exploiting the pandemic to erode the rights of airport staff.”
The Thai aviation sector, very similar to elsewhere, suffered unprecedented losses as a result of COVID-19 pandemic. THAI’s restructuring plans come after the corporate incurred billions of of losses previously few years, particularly in 2020 as a result of pandemic when it posted a document lack of THB 141.2 billion (roughly USD four.7 billion), whereas its whole debt has come as much as THB 338.9 billion (round USD 11 billion) as of September 2020. Final 12 months, THAI for misplaced its standing of being a state-run enterprise, because the share of the federal government went under 50% in debt rehabilitation plans.
Likewise, airports even have needed to take care of drastically decreased or fully no visitors resulting from government-imposed journey restrictions and different counter-pandemic measures.
This has prompted a number of corporations related to the airways and airports enterprise to take anti-worker measures, at the same time as the federal government has to intervene to drag them out of economic doldrums.
Courtesy: Peoples Dispatch
