Unions resolves conflict at Michelin's Thai plant

ERJ staff report (DS)

Chomburi, Thailand -- A two-month dispute between Michelin in Thailand and rubber workers backed by ICEM affiliate Petroleum and Chemical Workers' Federation (PCFT) at a factory in Laem Chabang, Chonburi Province, ended last week. The resolution came via tripartite dialogue between the employer, the ICEM, FCE-CFDT of France, and Michelin's European Works Council.

The dispute ended in the early morning hours of 28 April when state mediators, PCFT representatives, and Michelin's Laem Chabang managers reached a six-point accord that hopefully ends retaliatory punishment of 383 of the plant's 1,500 workers and ends a lockout that began on 25 March.

Provincial mediators from Chonburi's Labour Protection and Welfare Office got both sides together, but on 20 April, local managers refused to rescind a 35% punitive pay cut. The union at that mediation session proposed acceptance of the 13% cut for all until October 2009, but called on Michelin to pay a 2008 two-month bonus that the company had already announced.

Workers agreed to end mass protests at Michelin's plant gates effective on 28 April, and the company agreed to reinstate all workers who had been victimised by local management for refusing to withdraw their names from a petition circulated in early March. That petition called on management to engage in consultation with workers and PCFT representatives before implementing a 13% wage cut.

Laem Chabang rubber workers received strong support from staff employed at Bridgestone and Goodyear factories in Thailand, as well as from workers at other Michelin plants in the country.

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Press release from ICEM