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2 June, 2008
At its bi-annual Congress last month, ICEM affiliate Paper & Printing Federation of Thailand (PPFT) elected Amnuay Iemraksa as President of the 6,000-member union. She is the strong and energetic local branch leader at a Kimberly Clark mill in Pathumtahni and is the first woman to lead PPFT, which has members in many paper and paper-related companies across Thailand.
Elected Secretary-General of PPFT was Witaya Inwan, a leader at Rank Group’s SIG Combibloc, who played a vital role last year in the reinstatement of Thaneth Jhanluechai at that packaging plant in the Rayong industrial area.
PPFT's Witaya Inwan and Amnuay Iemraksa
The two are joined on the union’s Executive Committee by Sommai Saranjit, another woman who is the leader of a plant-level union at Norske Skog’s Singburi Newsprint Mill in Amphur Muang. She led a very successful set of talks at that mill late in 2007, in which Norske Skog management agreed to prohibit all contract labour in production, while limiting only specialized contractors in the performance of maintenance work.
They are joined on the committee by brothers and sisters from the English-speaking newspaper, the Bangkok Post. They include Sister Jarinporn Niyom, and Brothers Worachit Jangsrisook and Prajak Krongsri.
Elected the plant-level President at the Kimberly Clark mill in 2006, Amnuay Iemraksa led a highly successful set of negotiations there a year ago at a primary mill, which produces 135,000 tonnes of paper per year. Those talks gained rights for contract workers to be made permanent when regularized workers retire. She said her main goal as leader of PPFT is to organise more workplaces into the PPFT, to forge greater unity among the plant-level unions of the union, and to win rights for contract and agency workers.