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Interview with Chailai Imsamran from Bangkok Mass Transit Authority Enterprise Workers' Union (BMT), Thailand

Chailai Imsamran has been working as a bus conductor since she was 17. She has been a union member for 10 years and is actively involved in the BMT’s women’s network. She is a regular participant in the ITF/FNV women workers’ education project in Asia.

Chailai, why did you decide to join the union?

When I first started to work 11 years ago, I saw discrimination in the workplace. The supervisor openly favoured some workers over others. I joined and began to tell other women workers about the benefits of joining a union. We then started to form a women’s network. The supervisor tried to stop women from joining the union, but he didn’t succeed!

Have women workers managed to improve their working conditions?

Yes. For example, before we began to organise, women workers had no maternity benefits. Now women get 90 days paid maternity leave, extendable to 120 days unpaid. Women workers who are pregnant are also given easier work. In terms of the union, we would like to see more women on the executive committee of the national union.

I know you have been active in taking up the issue of HIV/Aids in your workplace. Can you give me some background information about how your union became involved in HIV/Aids work?

The Thai government has a big programme on Aids. Through the Ministry of Labour, my union became involved and took workers to see Aids patients in hospitals. We tried to raise awareness about safe sex. We have also asked management to provide safe working conditions for workers who are HIV positive and we have worked closely with NGOs campaigning for workers’ rights to be protected.

How have you organised around the issue of HIV/Aids?

We have taken up a campaign on behalf of all nine ITF affiliates in Thailand. We have run training the trainers seminars to raise awareness. Together with other organisations, we have also drawn up a convention to ensure that HIV positive workers have rights. This convention says that the government should have a law to protect the rights of HIV positive people; that HIV people have the right to work and that there should be no compulsory blood testing of workers by companies.