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13 November, 2006
A central labour court in Thailand on 31 October ruled that Goodyear Thailand’s termination of contract worker Chalom Kongnok was illegal, and ordered the company to reinstate him and award him backpay and full collective bargaining benefits for the past ten years.
This case is one of 16 cases that ICEM affiliate Petroleum and Chemical Workers’ Federation (PCFT) now is pursuing on behalf of long-term contract workers employed in the warehouse and rubber stock department of Goodyear’s Bangkok tyre factory. They were fired in October 2005 for attempting to exert their legitimate right to collective bargaining.
Several, such as Kongnok, had been working for Goodyear for up to ten years under one-year contracts. The labour court’s ruling on 15 other sacked contract workers is expected on 30 November.
The 16 had won a previous Industrial Court Commission ruling last spring that called for reinstatement. But when they turned up at the factory for work on 3 May 2006, management refused entry.
Seven months before, Goodyear’s Thai management acted hastily in sacking the workers when they demanded collective bargaining benefits and protections. They had been deducting dues from the contract workers for, in some cases, up to four years. In an effort to avoid unionisation in this area of the plant, Goodyear later in 2005 halted direct employment of the contract workers and brought in a labour agency as employer.
The ICEM will continue to stand with the PCFT and its plant-level affiliate, the Tyre Makers’ Union, in its rightful quest for full rights and permanent employment for all contract workers at Goodyear Thailand Ltd.