Thai Labour Campaign: Campaigns

An interview with Bed & Bath Prestige Co. Workers
Their names are
Noi, Sone, Mee, Jan and Nuan

We would like all of you to tell us about the working conditions before the factory closure. What were your problems?

Tension:

-	I had worked here for three years with constant tension with no time to relax or rest. Sometimes I had to work until 2 a.m. or much later. The employer demanded a constant speeding up of production. In the sewing section, there are many production lines. Each line has 4 - 5 job orders and workers have to finish all jobs at the same time. This caused me so much stress. I didn’t know that I got sick through work until one day my friend told me that when I speak my mouth was not in normal shape. At that time I knew that I had much tension with work and had no time to relax. Over a two month period, I couldnot take rest for even just a day.
-	I felt so stressed but I could not leave my job. I went to work every day and took medicine to cure myself. Now, I am better because of encouragement I have got from my friends. But the employers never care about our lives, about our health. They just want their products finished. I could not talk about sickness with them. I must take care of myself.
-	I am not healthy. I have been sick since last April. At that time I was unable to talk for two months but I never asked permission for leave. I must work until late at night. My friends told me to rest but I refused to do so because I am a supervisor and take responsibility for around 40 workers. If I did not go to work, they could not work because there was no one to allocate the jobs. I have no assistant.
-	Sometimes I felt stressed because if materials reached the factory when I was eating lunch I had to stop eating and go to work-sign documents and move stuff to the right place-immediately.

Long hours at work:

-	Packaging is the hardest job because it is the last process of manufacturing for export. We dedicate ourselves to the employers. We have to finish packaging as much as we can do. Workers in this section must work much overtime and have no rest days. Particularly when there were problems inside factory, we had to work very late every night. We have no time for rest like workers in other factories. Sometimes we had time to eat for only ten minutes if the employers wanted the goods to be transported before noon.
-	The day off that the company gives us is on Wednesday. But two months before the closure, there was no day off. We had to work on Wednesday until five o’ clock.
-	I work around twelve hours per day and sometimes work until early morning.
-	Workers in packaging section work harder than others. They work until 5 a.m. and go back home and then come back to work at 8.15 a.m. and work continuously until 10 - 11 p.m.
-	For me, I worked until 3 or 5 a.m.

Health:

-	Previously, I weighed 56 kilograms but now it decreases to 43 kilograms. Because I work late at night, I got so tired and did not feel hungry. I worked in the packaging section where overtime work must be later than in other sections. 10 p.m. is the earliest one can leave work to go back home. Normally we went back at midnight or 1 a.m. if there was no overtime work. In the case of a speeding up on Saturday and Sunday to transport goods for shipping on time we had to work until 5 a.m. Then, we took a bath and headed back to work at eight. Every worker has to do the same, I insist. In this section there were 48 workers.
-	There was a case that one worker was cut at the finger. The employer just paid for the treatment. That one did not received any benefit nor compensation for the lost organ.
-	I am thinner than when I was in the country and I think that now my urine gets darker.

Amphetamine:

Sometimes when the employers wanted to speed up the manufacturing, they put amphetamine in the drinking water. For me, I worked in packaging and feel so sad about this. We dedicate our labour force for the company. Why have they done such a thing like this! Only to enrich themselves.

The motorcyclists [near the factory] had asked me where to buy the amphetamine. They asked us question about the drug because they had heard that the employer put it in drinking water. The employer wanted us to work continuously two days without sleep. We knew about this because some workers had seen the employer order someone to buy it.

After I drank water added with amphetamine, I lost my senses. When I worked at night, I did not feel pain when a needle pricked my fingers. But in the morning, I felt so much pain in my fingers.

At that time, I only thought of money and finished product targets. After finishing work, I was really tired and unable to eat.

My brain slept but my eyes remained open.

Verbal abuse:

-	Sometimes when we cannot finish on time, the employer scolded at us but I had to endure it. Or sometimes I cried while working.
-	The employer has a very loud voice and is very powerful. If we see him while we are drinking, we have to stop and continue working. When he saw us drinking water, he shouted and ordered us back to work.
-	The employer has never paid attention to our lives. He is concerned only about the manufacturing. He always speeds us to finish on the time he had set. In the packaging section we had to run while working to make production faster.
-	There was a small food shop near the factory building where I always ate. The employer came to the shop, furious, and ordered us to go back to work while we were eating. I felt so tired. This was too much to endure. Sometimes I cried out of desperation. Sometimes I stopped eating and went back to work.

Family life:

-	I am single. I have no time to get in touch with my friends because I dedicated most of my time to working. I had 4 - 5 boyfriends in the past but due to I have not much time to nurture a relationship so it always ends up breaking.
-	I am married and have an 11 month-old child. My wife and I are both unemployed now. My parents are raising my child but I have no money to send back home. I have no money to pay for my two-month rent or TV installments.

Fine/wage cut

If we talk or stand doing nothing while working, we would be fined 500 baht.. Recently, one worker who worked until 1 or 3 a.m. had taken a lemon with him for waking up, he was fined 2,000 baht.. I had negotiated with Mr. Chaiyapat-the employer-that the fine was too much and that the worker has to send money to his parents. But he refused to decrease the fine. So I asked him to cut his wage 300 baht per week until it reach 2,000 baht so there would be some amount of money left to send back home.

What happened to workers after the factory closure without any advance notice.

Suffering:

-	I have no job now. My wife and I have no money for raising my child. I have not paid for the two-month rent or TV installments. I don’t know who or where I can ask for help. I cannot rely on anybody’s aid whether they are police officers, from the Ministry of Labour or the government.
-	My child is now studying in vocational school. I cannot pay for her education fee so the school is deciding to expel her.

Is the company bankrupt?

-	I have worked for the employer for many years, I am sure that he has much money and his business does not lose profit. Before the closure many lawyers had come to the factory and went back at around 1 or 2 a.m. I observed at that time that lawyers often came to the factory.
-	I don’t think this is an indication, they are just his private lawyers. They came to make a plan before closing down the factory. Some appliances were moved out. Five trucks of the company changed logos. The company had used rented trucks because the number on the trucks licenses plates were not the same as the company’s trucks which are ‘555’ and ‘999’.

The reason why we struggle:

-	We struggle because the employer has never seen our virtue. We struggle because we believe that he is not bankrupt or suffered any loss of profit. We worked until the last day for him. We just ask for our rights. We do not demand for a wage increase nor our bonuses. We, 850 workers, were left without wages and severance. We are not persuaded by anyone nor any organization. The employer’s practices are unfair to us.
-	I have worked for the company many years. I am bound up with the company but the result is suffering. Now I really hate the employer. I join the struggle to make our society perceive our suffering. And I need the law or social measures to be improved to make workers lives better.
-	At first, I am bound up with the company. But in this struggle, as one leader, good feelings with the employer were all gone after knowing the truth about him. We are like his arms and legs. We have brought prosperity to him. We work together. It is like being in the same boat. But one day, he pushed us into the water and he is the only one who survived. I feel so sad about his behavior.
-	The reason is the employer cheated us. I fight for our dignity and rights that have been exploited. I want him to be punished. I angrily resent his action.
-	To ask for justice. The company is unfair to us. It should pay back our money. I had to work-packaging-at home with the help of my child but I have not got my wage yet.

The Ministry of Labour has posted news in its website that it has already helped around 400 Bed and Bath Prestige Co. workers. What do you think of this?

The Ministry has not done anything for us. We have to deal with the problems by ourselves. The state issued a warrant of arrest but no progress occurs. We stayed here [at the Ministry] for a month but no official takes care of us. They deal with our problems only when we motivate them to. They have never been interested in our condition.

The Ministry does not solve the real problems.

I feel so sad about the officers’ performance. The Ministry paid welfare funds to workers who have just worked with the company a short period. But we who join struggle here have worked for the company since it was a small enterprise. Now it a big enterprise worth over 400 million baht. I think the Ministry may have a reason to do that. But I feel that the Ministry never helped us in any way. How can they publish news like that?

We want the employer to talk with us, with everyone. To set up job applications for us, I think this is a good idea. If the Ministry would like to help us, I think it should be better to post news about us in positive way rather than place blame on our struggle.

To my thinking, the Ministry posted the news through its media because they don’ want us to be here. The Ministry has never been sincere to the working class and there is no measure set up to deal with the employers. We struggle for justice in this society. For our case, the Ministry just pays welfare money and does not take responsibility for the problems which cause the suffering in the first place. But the same case like this can be happen again and again. I think the law should be amended and implemented.

The Ministry has not solved our problems directly yet. It is solving our problems like it has done before with other affected workers but this is not the way it should be. I would like state officers who deal with labour to play a major role in solving our problems. I think that because workers in Thailand make the country famous in the garment manufacturing industry we need better measures to protect us. If this were so, in the future, no demonstration like this would happen. There would be no need for it.

What do you think about the behavior of the Ministry of Labour officers to Bed and Bath Prestige Co. workers?

I had experienced a bad person in our employer and then I have had negative experiences with the officers in the Ministry of Labour. They‘ve never helped or take care of us but outsiders and trade unions have. I have heard some state officers with bald heads saying “You must remember the male workers here. If one of them goes outside get even with them. But you cannot attack them here because lots of them are around.”

The officers never ask us about our living. Some of them even step on our pillows or blankets evens if they are well-dressed women. How useless the Ministry is!

It is a pity that we pay the tax but the officers do nothing to help us.

I would like them to look at us as humans. I don’t like the way they look down upon us. They never say hello. All they do is blame us. Some officers said that when we applied for the job, they did not act as guarantors for us so why should they take responsibility for us now?

I want the officers to be honest and not to take bribes. If poor people suffer, they should help solve problems instead of making false claims against us. I don’t really like it.