Enough Time to Fight Back

8/8/2019 Enough Time to Fight Back

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(f) Democracy (f) Eq

(f) Unity (m) B

(m) Negotiation (m) I(m) Freedom (m) S

(f) Liberty

“Thai Labor SolidarUnion Committee M

* f = fe



2 Enough: Time to fight back

October 17, 2003Thai Labor Solidarity Union’s monthly meeting

Democracy Everybody is here today?

Solidarity Two are absent, Bargain and Freedom.

Democracy Our union has been just set up. I don’t want anybody absent

in the meeting. We have got a lot to do and we are still new.

Equality I’m worried also. There’s threatening news that we, the

union, should be more careful as management is very

angry that we form a union.




Liberty Why do we have to be scared of them? Our union is legally

registered and the Section 45 of Constitution said that we

have the right to set up a union.

Negotiation Perhaps, it’s because they used to oppress us and they areafraid that they won’t be able anymore.

Unity I won’t let them treat me like in the past. I’ ve still got hurt

that I was deducted 2,000 Baht for eating a lemon. I did

that because I was extremely sleepy after working for 2

days and 2 nights without break.

Solidarity A security guard snatched at my collar, shouting çYou

want a piece of me?é

Equality They prohibit woman workers from being pregnant if they

work for less than 1-2 years. I think that violates our rights.Who can stop birth?

Liberty That’s because they don’t wanna pay for maternity leaves.

Democracy When workers don’t know what rights they have, employers

think they can do anything with workers.




Telephone in the union room is ringing.

Democracy Hello!

Freedom Hello, Democracy! I was hit on my head. They rode a motor

cycle following me on the way to the meeting.

Democracy Oh dear! Where are you? Are you badly injured?Freedom I don’t know what to do next. I’m hiding myself.

Democracy You go to hospital now and we will see you there and take

you to police station.

Democracy (telling the me

Freedom was h

Let’s go to see

the attack.

Everybody Is he ok?

Equality So the threat




Freedom was hit on hstitched with 4 needl

Freedom There were two

the factory. I

helmets.

Independence It’s obvious tha

didn’t pay atte

able to give ide

Dog Plan

It includes violent and threatening measures to discourage

workers, especially union leaders, from organizing a union or

threatening workers from being union members. The following

methods are used:

ë Threats via telephone, or telephone interception

ë Not allow leaders to do overtime work (putting economic

pressure)

ë Personal talk to threaten or to force workers to resign from

a union

ë Physical attack by gangsters or security guards

ë Accusations of theft, gambling, or having amphetamines

and involve police to arrest them Assassination of union leaders

(in some countries)




Liberty Anybody knows that Management and the police

inspector often have drink together.

Democracy We have to be more careful. We don’t know what they’re

gonna do next.

As expected, the policeman just put the incident in the record and thereis no further investigation although the union and Freedom have tried

to follow up the case. They end up stopping their attempts due to the

police’s lack of attention.

(5 days later)...Announcement...

çEvery staff are

for the order in factory. Those w

verbal warning and disci

Workers are crowding around the




Freedom They announced a new regulation without asking for an

opinion from the union. Is it against employment

conditions?

A member Tucking in causes us inconvenience in working. We’ve been

working with our shirts outside pants for a decade and

there’s been no accident.

Freedom I will take this issue to talk with the union committee.

Liberty This announce

What should w

Freedom I think we shou

against the reg

Independence We should also

their new regul

Equality We won’t follow




Democracy All of us shouldn’t do it at the same time. The Personnel

Manager will take disciplinary punishment with all of us. A

half of us should start first so that there’ll be people left in

the union if there is punishment.

Everybody Ok, we’ll do that.

Personnel You don’t follow the factory regulation. You think the union

Manager can help you? You think following the western way will

create a peaceful order in this factory?

Freedom Democracy is the West’s political system and we changed

to be democratic country since 1932.

Personnel But the idea of union is against the Thai culture of paying

Manager respect to senior people. You should be aware that you’ re

under my supervision and should act in a modest way. Stop

the union and let’s work as a family. You follow the regulations of management and we all help make the company

thrive and I will propose MD to give a big bonus to all of you.

Democracy Forming a union is our right authorized by the Constitution.

Being union members doesn’t mean that we’ll be rebellious

with the company. The union gives us strength in showing

our ideas and proposals to the company. If we are alone, we

don’t dare propose anything.

Equality This’ll benefit the company if staff can give their ideas to

the company and join in cross checking the company’soperations. Instead, it’ll prevent corruption, biased

management, and oppressive regulations. The union can be

the intermediary between factory and workers.

Unity We also want th

to get a fair sh

have us, the co

Personnel The union was

Manager have started a

Anyway, I keep

have to follow n




One month later...After the union’s firm confirmation of its right in

taking part in any new regulations, Personnel De-partment agrees that the regulations will be is-sued under the mutual consent of Personnel De-partment and union representatives.

Personnel How are you doing, Democracy? Would you mind dining outManager with me this evening?

Democracy Thank you but sorry. I’ve got an appointment already. (In

fact, she doesn’t have any date but she knows that union

members will question her behavior if she goes with him.)

Everybody After trying to explain, you still don’t listen to us. We’ve to

fight to the very end.

Personnel You’ll see who is the regulator in this factory. You’ve to fol

Manager low my instructions.

No doubt, four union committee members receive a written warning and

are suspended from work with no payment for violation against superior’

s instructions. Every member files the case to the Ministry of Labor to

consider whether the action of the Personnel Department is against

employment conditions, and whether the Department should consult

with the union before announcing the regulation.




Stick Plan

It uses regulations to pressure workers to break company rules

and punish them by fine, warning letter, or dismissal without sever-

ance pay.

Disciplinary Punishment

ë Many inhumane regulations: if workers violate any regula-

tions, they will be hugely fined, or receive a warning letter, or be

dismissed.

ë Subcontracting out work to reduce workers’ bargaining power

(and to support their production in case of strikes)

ë Suspension from duties without pay in case of breach of any

regulations

ë Transfer of union leaders or committee to work alone or far

away from members

ë To put pressures on workers till they resign by moving them

to work in worse places, to collect garbage and clean toilets, or to

work in the department they are not good at.ë Stricter regulations about the shirts, pants, shoes, and in-out

clocking of workers, especially union committee and members

Other Pressures

ë Try to make union leaders feel uncomfortable and frightened

by using camera, guards, and supervisors to monitor their perfor-

mance.

ë Force the workers who are afraid of being terminated to pres-

surize the workers who are union committee and members.

ë Force the wife/husband to pressure her/his spouse (in case

they work in the same place.)

ë Do not allow even one day of sick leave with no doctor

certificate.[by law it is three days]

ë Do not allow meeting’s leave if there is no invitation letter

from a government agency.

ë Check at home if the person is really sick.

ë Hire advisors ( for as much as 10 million Baht) to break the

union.

ë Set up a union that the company can control.

Personnel Please... I wan

Manager today, it can be

Democracy If you’d like to p

If not, they will

Personnel I appreciate yo

Manager




Organizing during lunch break between union com-mittee and union members

Negotiation The trade union belongs to all of us, not to me, nor to the

chairman. It’s ours.

A member The chairman and the committee members are responsible

for taking care of members because we elected them,

aren’t they?

Negotiation Of course, every committee member and I feel very honored

that every member trusts us. By the way, we can’t work

alone. We need your help. Let’s see what a union is, how it

benefits us, our families and our society. We should run a

campaign to promote all workers to be union members. If

all workers are union members, the union will get stronger

and have more bargaining power when dealing with

employers. The heart of the union is the strength from allmembers, not only me, nor the chairman.




Cat Plan

It includes the measures to separate and break a trade union

by offering compensation to union leaders to withdraw themselvesfrom union, or by creating division between union committee

and members.

ë Buy the leaders by offering them money in exchange for

their resignation from company or for something else.

ë Promote the leaders to be supervisors with or without con-

ditions to resign from union.

ë Entertain the leaders with food, overseas trips, expensive

gifts, car, gold, etc.

ë Try to convince workers they are “the same family and it

is not necessary to tell other people about the problems in the

family.”

ë Give the workers who are not union members’ higher

wages, bonuses, allowances and costs of living than those who are.

ë Ask for sympathy from union committee and members

by claiming that the company makes a loss.

ë Do not follow what is promised to union.

ë Ask government officials to take part in order to stop

negotiations, strikes, and requests.

A member May I talk off th

trying to have

him to transfe

Negotiation Where did you

cracy told me t

with her many t




A member I heard from my colleagues and don’t know where they get it

from. They are very angry that Democracy is two-faced.

She looks helpful to us but she tries to please Personnel

Manager behind us.

Negotiation Cool down. I think our chairman is able to explain this to us.

With anger, the chairPersonnel Manager.

Democracy Why did you tell

I wanted to mo

truth is. How c

Personnel Isn’t it true? Isn’

Manager uncomfortabl

store.






After work meeting in the evening in union room...Democracy There are so many things for us to solve. We don’t have time

to provide training to members. It seems things getting

messed up. I’ve just argued with Personnel Manager

because he told that he would transfer me to Store

Department.

Liberty It’s his way to separate you from other members because

he knows that every member loves you.

Independence It may be the Management’s technique to make us have no

time to train members.

Negotiation It might be mor

disciplinarily

deliberately ma

Unity You see the gu

(Chairman of a

that guy. He is

he’s got 25,000

agement.

If our employe

gonna face a b






Mother Oh! Will she get imprisoned? No! No! I won’t let her stay on in

Bangkok. You call her back.

Older Sister I’ll see her and ask her back home.

At the apartment of Democracy It’s not a big d

come here. Don’

Older Sister You still said it

sued. We don’t h

gossip.

Democracy Don’t be frighte

anybody. Per

because I’m the




Older Sister Union! You shouldn’t get involved with it. It’d be better to

work only. You asked for trouble! We are concerned about

you.

Democracy Because most people think like you, so many employers

keep us down. Whenever they are not happy with us, they

deduct our wages, or sometimes don’t pay. When we have aunion, they can’t do that anymore.

Older Sister But it’s dangerous. Mom and I’re worried about your safety.

Democracy Tell Mom don’t worry about me. I’m not fighting alone. There

are many who take my side.






While the union chairman is sued to be terminated, union committee

members and leaders do not just sit by. They keep organizing and try

to talk with their members during lunch and after work so that all mem-

bers are not afraid too much that they will be terminated.

Freedom Toom, you’ve not to worry about Democracy. We consulted

with the lawyer. He said the employers don’t have sufficient

grounds to terminate her. Personnel Manager wanna

frighten us. They think we are afraid of government officials

and courts.

Toom At first, we were scared. Because behind your present,

(a member) Personnel Manager tries to tell us to resign from the union

if we don’t wanna have trouble and wanna get bonus and

iligence allowance.

Freedom Do you and your friends believe what they said?Toom We don’t believe them. For just over six months that we have

the union, we notice that management and Personnel

Manager are more careful about the way they treat us.

They don’t curse us anymore as if we were fools like buffa-

loes. No more money deduction: 30 Baht for late coming,

50 Baht for not putting the name tag on the shirt, and 50

Baht for wearing wrong color jeans. We know now that trade

union can reduce the Management’s pressure on us.

Freedom Absolutely! It’s because we recognize our rights. We dare tofight more for rightness and justice because we know we are

not alone, don’t we?

Toom Please tell Democracy that although we are low educated,

it doesn’t mean we’re such fools that the Personnel Man

ager can do an

to be union mem

fired. I’ll help ta

Freedom Having a memb




At the Union meeting (2 month later)...

Negotiation I’ve got papers about how to bust a trade union. It’ s relevant

to what we’ve been facing. I bring to you all. (Everybody sees

the papers).

Liberty Hey! It’s exactly what we’ve encountered. They are called DogPlan, Cat Plan, Stick Plan, Libra Plan or Nation Unity Plan.

Solidarity After considering the plans, what we’ve experienced are

what’s said in these plans.

Bargain Yes, look at th

Advisor 1é is sim

same person?

Independence No doubt, it sh

of advisors fam

Bargain It’s sad that

upposed to giv

the workers.

Democracy I heard that as

from history a

movements, in

we can notice w

luxurious place

crawl down on

mum wage andous things.

Freedom Certainly, it’s n

Equality It’s not only the

but also our o

understanding

we understand

union.

Bargain That’s right! W

bers so that tdoing. We have

Unity.




Solidarity That’s not enough. We need to have the decision making

process that’s based on a democratic concept. We should

allow our members to take part in or examine our opera-

tions.

Negotiation After facing the pressure from the management, I think we

need to have a shadow committee that works along with

us. If anything happens to us or if we’re prevented from

meeting members, the shadow committee will be able to

replace us right away.

Democracy All ideas from you are the core elements of a trade union:

participation of members, unity, democracy, shadow com-

mittee, and training. One thing I want to add is indepen-

dence. We’ve to be independent of the influence of any

political or interest groups that will use us a tool. We’ve to

join in proposing political policy and labor laws that protectworkers and have better welfare. If we don’t push forward

legal improvement, we will live in difficulties.

Independence How thoughtful! We’re proud to have a union leader like you.

You understand and don’t seek benefits from the power you

have. We’ll patiently and strongly help you fight against any

form of attempt to break the union.

Solidarity If we discuss about problems and brainstorm to seek solu-

tions like this, I believe the Personnel Manager can’t do any-

thing to us though they hire a good advisor for as high as25,000 Baht a day.

Freedom Yes, but we need to understand laws and company regula-

tions well.




Liberty We have to use our brain and fight with peaceful means.

Anyway, we won’t be compromising too much.

Democracy We’re still new. The union has been set up for a few months

and we’ve to face the big fight like this. By learning from the

lessons of other unions, we’ll see if we get stronger, the

pressure by employers will be weaker. We won’t stop train-

ing and strengthening members’relationship. The manage-ment likes to hit behind our backs. If we’re strong, they

don’t dare do anything with us. If we don’t have any action,

they will attack us again. So, we have to be alert and ready

all the time.

Negotiation Some strong unions have a strike fund of 10 million Baht to

support themselves in case of strikes or lockouts. This is

important. If we start collecting the fund now, it will help

members when there are problems.

Everybody Extremely agree!Democracy Comrades!

Everybody Yes!

Democracy Fight or not fight?

Everybody Fight!




Appendix 1

Suggestions

1. Do not make decisions on your own. Before making any deci-

sion in the name of the union, committee members should

meet to agree on a position. If it is necessary, the meeting of

union members should be called.

2. Do not talk alone with the management. In case of negotia-

tions, a group of members or the whole union committee

should meet the management.

3. Absolutely do not sign your name on blank papers or on the

papers with texts in the languages (eg. English, Chinese, etc.)

union members do not understand.

4. Do not panic if receiving court writs.

5. In case of being bodily hurt, go to hospital and ask for a doctor’

s examination result as a medical certificate before reporting

the incident to the police. (It is essential to see a doctor (while

the wounds are still fresh) before going to police station.)

6. Being accused of theft (and forced by policemen), do not ac-

cept if it is not true. The accused has the right to consult with

a lawyer.

7. Emergency telephone numbers (eg. The Law Society of Thai-

land, union advisors or committee members) should be kept

with oneself all the time.

8. Study Labor Protection Law (B.E. 2541 version), Labor Rela-

tions Act, and the Constitution of the Kingdom of ThailandB.E. 2540, and have the manuals of the laws.

9. What worries the management are not only capable union

chairman, strong committee or team of advisors, but also the

strength and unity of all members who understand the situa-

tion of their union.

10. To make members str

ë Providing membe

union operations,

as possible inform

facturing procedu

tion with politicia

ë Regularly commupening via annou

iting, personal tal

ë Promoting memb

making

ë Encourage transp

members in the o




Strategies and tactics to break trade unions and to re-

spond to workers’ strikes of two well-known advisors

to employers

Strategies of Advisor 1

1. Analyze each strike.

2. Seek the strike leaders and analyze them.

3. Try to cause as many difficulties as possible to strikes.

4. Monitor the situation of the strikes by means of VDO, camera, and

men.

5. Open the entrance-exit ways for workers who do not join strikes.

6. Immediately hire new workers.

7. Outsource work.

8. Call all security guards to be in charge, and prepare food, communi-

cation equipment, water, and fire extinguishers.

9. Try to contact those who support workers’ strikes.

10. Keep communicating with policemen about the situation but do

not let them be obviously involved with the incident.

11. If possible, announce a lockout.12. The Management has to consider who is reliable to be used in case of

emergency.

13. Give insignificant work or less work to workers who are difficult to

control. Ensure that reliable workers are working close to the factory

so that they can quickly receive orders in case of emergency.

Strategies of Advisor 2

1. The purpose of recording t

2. What to do if the entrance

3. How to monitor workers’ m

4. Change of staff bus-taking

5. What to do if being threat

6. Are workers’ requests legal

7. When does the agreement

8. How to record the negotia

9. Assignment of what to do

10. When the counter request

11. The reasons of counter req

12. After strike, cancel work sh

13. How to make workers resu

14. What does the letter to can

15. What are the advantages o

16. Who protects expensive m

17. Should finished goods be m

18. After negotiations, ensure

19. Mental rehabilitation

20. Change the responsibilities

21. Try to play for time.

22. Protect electric generators

23. The purposes of the coord

24. Season of political mobs

25. Select the welfare that save

26. Try to make use of the emp

27. How to know each strike i

Appendix 2




28. The benefits of the team that drafts the agreement

29. Prevent the press

30. What to do the first second workers are on strike

31. What to do the first second the requests are submitted

32. The reason why there must be the posters looking for workers with a

daily wage of 200 Baht33. What to give to those who are not on strike

34. Worker benefits should be given one after another, not at the same

time.

35. In case the atmosphere is too tense, there should be separated nego-

tiations.

36. Preparation of amnesty

37. Beware of Mr. Chili

38. Do not have workers to work on days off to compensate the days

they are on strike.

39. Beware that the assigned persons will not be able to control mobs.

40. In critical case, intercept police radio signal.

41. When workers are on strike, do not stop machinery.



Enough Time to Fight Back

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