Update on Former Bed & Bath Workers

After a long three-month struggle around 200 former Bed & Bath workers have received compensation from the Employee Support Fund. The Fund amended its regulations to increase its payment to laid off workers from 30 times of minimum wage (30x165 Baht) in the case of owed wages to 60 times minimum wage (60x165 Baht). The compensation owed to workers is 30 times minimum wage for workers employed with the company for less than six years, and 60 times minimum wage for those employed for over six years. Thus, each B&B worker was paid 14,800 baht, and the Social Development Department also gave them a welfare payment of 2,000 baht per person.

On 31 January 2003, the workers ended their struggle at the Ministry of Labour. Some of them have taken jobs in a new factory. Others have had enough of living in the city, so they went back to their homes in rural areas to grow rice. Some have gathered together and formed their own small factory. Although their choices are different, they are all still closely following the development of the state authorities efforts to catch their employer and punish them to the full extent of the law and fully compensate the government for the workers owed wages.

An alternative for a group of former Bed & Bath workers
"The Solidarity Group" was formed after the struggle was complete; there are 40 members. These former B&B workers each have a share in a cooperative business after taking a loan from the Government Savings Bank of 700,000 baht to open a small garment factory. Currently, the Solidarity Group subcontracts or sub-subcontracts from other factories. Sometimes, they get orders from trade unions for campaign T-shirts and banners. Their factory is located in Bang-Khuntien District in Bangkok. Their work began on 21 February 2003.

Noi, 28 years old, who is one of the workers in the cooperative stated, "Our goal is to live in better conditions. One day we would like to have our own brand and market. We would like to make a fully packaged product. We dream of creating our own brand because it is proof of the ability of our labour."

"When we struggled at the Ministry of Labour we sold the clothes we had sewn and attached our brand label 'Made in Unity'. We are skillful so we want to have our own brand name. When we subcontract clothing production, each item requires 20 - 30 procedures before it’s finished, but we get paid only 16 baht per item which is very little money between 40 people. If we produce in every stage of the production process, as we did with the clothes we sold during the struggle, our living would be much better."

They would prefer to not work in this subcontracting system, but in the beginning period their factory is not well known and they have to accept any orders they get. In the future, they hope that they would directly receive orders from customers and have a brand name.

Contact Address: 38/87 – 88 Ake-kachai Road 64/2, Bang-bon, Bang-khuntien District, Bangkok 10150
Tel: +66 (0)2 899 0445 to 6
Fax: +66 (0)2 899 0446