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11 December, 2006
Seventeen contract workers in Bangkok won a mixed decision on 30 November in a central labour court case dating back nearly three years. Goodyear Thailand Ltd. was ordered to pay more than one year’s backpay to the 17, who were sacked by the US-based company in October 2005 for exerting their legitimate right to collective bargaining.
Despite several of the 17 contract employees working at Goodyear’s tyre-making plant back to 1996, the court ruled that backpay awards only be granted them from the effective date of the collective agreement inside the factory, August 2004, to their dismissal dates. The union representing the workers, the Tyre Makers’ Union of ICEM affiliate Petroleum and Chemical Workers’ Federation (PCFT), is studying an appeal to the decision, while Goodyear has appealed the ruling.
The 17 contract workers had previously won an Industrial Court Commission ruling, calling for reinstatement. But when they turned up at the factory for work on 3 May 2006, management refused entry.
On 31 October 2006, another contract employee, Chalom Kongnok, won backpay totalling one year of work service, plus 50,000 baht for his dismissal. Chalom’s dismissal came in December 2005, when he refused to sign a one-year renewal of his temporary work contract.
The workers were all long-term contract workers employed in the warehouse and rubber stock department of Goodyear’s Bangkok tyre factory.
Goodyear Newsletter
The United Steelworkers, currently on strike against Goodyear in the US and Canada published the global newsletter, called ‘Global Solidarity. The 'Newsletter for Unionised Goodyear Workers Worldwide’, is available on the ICEM web-site in English and Spanish.