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Thai transport unionists take to streets to force change
3 September 2008
Trade unionists are at the forefront of the struggle to peacefully overthrow what they see as a puppet government ruling Thailand on behalf of the ousted and banned former Prime Minister.
The beleaguered government today declared a state of emergency in the face of growing protest by supporters of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), a coalition of groups which has led 101 days of protest.
Somsak Kosaisook, the ex-President and Chairman of the ITF affiliated SRUT (State Railway Workers’ Union of Thailand) is one of the key leaders of the PAD. He reports that the movement has been backed by transport unions which, he says, “under the umbrella of the State Enterprise Workers Relations Confederation (SERC), have called on their members to rally, take sick leave and organise work stoppages and meetings in order to stop the government’s privatisation policy and various mega projects - especially in the transport sector”.
He added: “Key ITF affiliates under the umbrella of SERC include SRUT (railway), TG Union (Thai Airways International State Employees Union), AOT-SWU (airport), LU-PAT (port) and LU-ETA (expressway), which have all been playing an active and important role in PAD.”
One of his colleagues reported: “This afternoon the Royal Army announced that they do not support the state of emergency. According to SERC, tomorrow most of the state enterprise unions within it will take common action to support PAD by staging a nationwide sick leave strike, initially for two days. SRUT has been on strike from 26 August.”
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