Effect given to the recommendations of the committee and the Governing Body - Report No 350, June 2008

Case No 2466 (Thailand) - Complaint date: 10-SEP-05 - Closed

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

1. 208. The Committee last examined this case, which concerns acts of anti-union discrimination – including dismissal, threats of termination to pressure employees to resign from the union, and other acts intended to frustrate collective bargaining – at its November 2007 meeting. On that occasion, the Committee once again requested the Government to secure the reinstatement with backpay of the dismissed union officials of the Thai Industrial Gases Labor Union, without delay, and ensure that those employees who had resigned from the union may resume their membership in the union free of the threat of dismissals or any other form of reprisal. Noting that the employer’s appeal to the Supreme Court of the Central Labour Court’s March 2006 decision (upholding Order No. 54–55/2006 of the Labour Relations Committee finding that the union President and Treasurer had been unfairly dismissed) was still pending, the Committee once again requested the Government to transmit a copy of the Supreme Court judgement as soon as it was handed down [see 348th Report, paras 153–155].
2. 209. In a communication dated 9 January 2008, the Government states that following negotiations with the employer’s United Kingdom head office and both the General Secretary of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Union (ICEM) and the National Secretary for Manufacturing of the Transport and General Workers’ Union (TGWU), President Chatchai Paiyasen and Treasurer Chatree Jarusuwanwong, of the complainant organization had been reinstated with back wages as of 18 September and 1 October 2006, respectively. As for the employer’s appeal to the Supreme Court, the said action remains pending.
3. 210. The Committee takes note of the Government’s indication concerning the pending Supreme Court decision and once again requests the Government to transmit a copy of the Court’s judgement as soon as it is handed down. While noting with interest that union President Paiyasen and Treasurer Jarusuwanwong had been reinstated with backpay, the Committee regrets that the Government provides no information respecting the two other dismissed union officials or those employees who had resigned from the union. Recalling once again that justice delayed is justice denied, the Committee once again requests the Government to secure, without delay, the reinstatement with backpay of the two other dismissed union officials and ensure that those employees who had resigned from the union may resume their membership in the union free of the threat of dismissals or any other form of reprisal. The Committee requests to be kept informed of developments in this regard.