Effect given to the recommendations of the committee and the Governing Body - Report No 331, June 2003

Case No 2181 (Thailand) - Complaint date: 18-FEB-02 - Closed

Effect given to the recommendations of the Committee and the Governing Body

1. 73. At its November 2002 meeting, the Committee examined this case which relates to the automatic dissolution of the Bangchak Petroleum Public Co. Ltd. Employees’ Union (BCPEU) – the complainant organization – as a result of purported change of status of a state-owned oil company, the Bangchak Petroleum Public Co. Ltd. In its conclusions, the Committee requested the Government, first to take appropriate measures so that the legal personality and registration of BCPEU be restored immediately. Second, it requested the Government to clarify the status, public or private, of the Bangchak Petroleum Public Co. Ltd. and to provide updated information on the trade union and collective bargaining situation in the company; the request for information on the second issue was also addressed to the complainant organization. Finally, the Committee requested the Government to take appropriate measures so that this situation would not arise again in the future [see 329th Report, paras. 757-764].
2. 74. The Government sent a communication dated 20 March 2003 to the Committee following its conclusions. In this document, the Government confines itself to repeating the information transmitted in its reply to the complaint and which has already been examined by the Committee.
3. 75. In a communication of 3 April 2003, the complainant sends additional information on the status of the Bangchak Petroleum Public Co. Ltd. and its implications for the BCPEU. In an earlier communication, examined by the Committee, the complainant had indicated that, following a complaint it had lodged, the Subcommittee on Grievances of the Committee on Labour and Social Welfare of the Parliament had ruled that the change in shareholders at the company did not impact on its status as a state enterprise; therefore, there should be no change in BCPEU status as a state enterprise union. In its last communication the BCPEU informs the Committee that this conclusion has been confirmed by another subcommittee (the Subcommittee on Labour Laws Revision) of the Committee on Labour and Social Welfare; a translation into English of the findings of the Subcommittee on Labour Laws Revision is attached to the communication. The Subcommittee on Labour Laws Revision also found that the Director-General of the Department of Labour Protection and Welfare had carried out his duty in accordance with the laws, in relation to the cancellation of the registration of the BCPEU. The complainant has also attached a letter sent to the Ministry of Labour from the State Enterprise Workers’ Relations Confederation (SERC) and the response dated 25 February 2003 of the Director-General of the Department of Labour Protection and Welfare. The response recalls the conclusions of the Council of State that the Bangchak Petroleum Public Co. Ltd. was no longer covered by the State Enterprise Labour Relations Act of 2000 (SELRA) and that, as a result, the BCPEU was henceforth covered in particular by the Labour Relations Act of 1975. Treating the BCPEU differently from other unions registered under the Labour Relations Act would adversely affect the rights of these unions. The SERC raised the matter with the Prime Minister whose response is still awaited. Finally, the complainant indicates that the Bangchak Petroleum Public Co. Ltd. is presented as an agency “attached to the Ministry of Energy”, on the Ministry’s web site.
4. 76. The Committee regrets that the Government has not submitted the information requested. The Committee recalls that it found that the administrative dissolution of BCPEU and the automatic revocation of its registration and legal personality infringed a number of principles of freedom of association. This is the reason why the Committee requested the restoration of the union’s legal personality and registration whatever the change of company status may have been; in this respect the Committee notes that the question of the status of the company remains unclear. Further, in taking note of the registration of a new union led by another president, the Committee requested information on the situation of trade union and collective bargaining rights in the company, in particular to clarify the consequences of this registration in terms of preferential bargaining rights.
5. 77. In these circumstances, the Committee trusts that the Government will take the necessary measures so that the legal personality and registration of BCPEU be restored. It requests the Government to keep it informed in this respect as well as to submit the information on the trade union and collective bargaining rights in the company. In this last respect, the Committee points out that its request was also directed at the complainant organization.