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ITF official visit to Thailand to challenge railway unionist sackings
4 November 2009
An ITF official is set to arrive in Thailand today to condemn the sacking last week of six trade unionists and back calls for safety upgrades on the railway network. The ITF-affiliated union committee members were sacked after they participated in industrial action.
ITF Asia Pacific regional secretary Mahendra Sharma is arriving in Bangkok today in the hope of meeting with government officials to stress that the sacked workers should be reinstated and that those who took part in the action should not face prosecution. Members of the ITF-affiliated union, the State Railway Workers’ Union of Thailand (SRUT), took industrial action on 16 October in protest over the dismissal of a driver after a rail accident, which highlighted an ongoing safety issue on the railways.
Sharma’s visit coincides with the arrival of a delegation from the ITF-affiliated Japanese Railway Workers’ Union, as well as protests at Thai embassies by trade unionists in Australia, India, Japan, New Zealand and the Philippines.
He commented: “The ITF is here to back dialogue, not victimisation. We and our member unions around the world want to see the efforts already made to address this situation built on and strengthened. We utterly reject any moves to prosecute the SRUT union or its leaders.”
On 3 November, thousands of workers, union supporters and members of civil society groups in Thailand marched to government house and submitted a charter of demands to the authorities. Union representatives also met with the prime minister later that day; however, the dispute remained unresolved. In the meantime, managers filed a case at the Central Labour Court accusing union leaders of neglecting their duties and causing losses of 70.4 million bahts (US$2.1 million).
A range of other campaigning activities by the union and its supporters are also taking place.
Last Friday ITF general secretary David Cockroft wrote to Thai prime minister Vejjajiva to intervene urgently to help resolve the dispute.
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