| Anti-Privatization Campaign Fights for the Rights of the People
The international premier of a documentary chronicling
the human experience of energy privatization around the
world: “The Big Blackout,” provided a timely
opportunity to discuss the anti-privatization campaign currently
being waged by EGAT and to connect it to the worldwide struggle
against public service privatization.
The film produced by Transnational Institute (TNI), directed
by Satya Sivaraman and Daniel Chavez, explored the impact
that the privatization of electricity has had on the people
in India, Colombia, Brazil, and South Africa. Around the
world the story is strikingly similar. In India the commodification
of the most basic human needs has led to water and electricity
blackouts, tariffs and the refusal of service to the poor
while guaranteeing corporate profits of 16%. In Colombia,
privatization of energy has led to widespread corruption
in billing including the use of faulty, unitemized bills
and meters that can only be read by the company. In addition,
there are allegations that the corporations which now own
public utilities provide financial support to the right-wing
paramilitaries in Colombia’s civil war. Because of
this support, trade unionists who speak out against privatization
live in fear of assassination. Two decades Brazil had the
cheapest power in the world and everyone could afford electricity.
In 1993, the state owned power company was dismantled and
sold off piecemeal. Since then, prices have risen drastically
and now account for 50% of the average family’s budget.
20,000 families in Sewato, South Africa (the whole South
Africa have 10 million population) have had their power
cut off by the state power company as it transitions towards
private ownership.
The film was followed by a panel discussion involving the
director of the film, Satya Sivaraman, Sirichai Mai-ngam,
the president of the EGAT union, Chuenchom Greacen of Palang
Thai who has done substantial academic research on the impacts
of privatization, and Lek Yimprasert of Thai Labour Campaign
who also provided English translation for the event. Satya
opened the discussion pointing out that the efficiency of
services depends not solely on whether the enterprise is
public or private but on the wider culture of service provision.
“While I do not want to see electricity owned by a
private corporation, I would no more like to see the food
vendor down the street controlled by the ministry of labor,”
he stated. Privatization is, however, being pushed as the
solution to all problems irrespective of its appropriateness.
Basic services, Satya explained “do not benefit from
privatization,” and where problems exist in service
provision the solution should be to restructure the public
sector not sell it off.
Sirichai explained that the government is not interested
in improving the service of EGAT but only in making profits
for corporate interests. “EGAT is not a commodity,
but a public service which must be provided to all people
in the nation and therefore cannot be treated as a profit
making enterprise” he stated. EGAT workers are so
firmly against privatization because they believe that EGAT
should be run to provide the cheapest electricity possible
to the people. Because private corporations put profit first,
privatization would endanger the provision of electricity
to ordinary Thais as well as the economic security of the
country. That the Thai people understand this is evident
in their support of EGAT workers in their struggle against
privatization. The union’s call for a referendum is
central to their argument that since EGAT is a public enterprise
providing a public service, the people should determine
whether it is to be privatized.
Chuenchom echoed the call for a referendum stating that
the unparticipatory and non-transparent proposed privatization
of EGAT is fundamentally undemocratic: “This is an
issue of the people, the public should have a say.”
She further underscored the serious problems specific to
the government’s proposal, including the fact that
the government has made no plans for a regulatory board
to oversee the privatized energy corporation (Thailand is
the only country without such a provision). In addition
the government has guaranteed 9% profit returns as compared
to the world average of 4.2%. This level of profit return
will be impossible to achieve without increasing the price
of electricity for the Thai people. The government’s
claim that Thai citizens will maintain ownership of EGAT
because they will be able to purchase shares in the private
corporation is also questionable considering the fact that
only 2,000 people, or .003% of the Thai population would
be able to buy shares. The example of the sale of PGT, in
which shares were bought out in 1.17 minutes to pre-arranged
buyers, including three members of government who received
11 million shares, further illustrates who stands to gain
from privatization.
Sirichai added that in Prime Minister Thacksin’s
quest to make money through the privatization of EGAT he
has seriously underestimated EGAT workers. “He thinks
he can just order the Minister of Energy to talk to EGAT
employees and settle everything in two months, but workers
now know the situation and will not back down.” The
government even offered EGAT employees shares in the corporation
if they accepted privatization. But the workers and the
union have steadfastly refused, arguing that they provide
a public service and that privatization is not in the public
interest.
Sirichai also stated that he and the EGAT workers are happy
to see the public standing behind the anti-privatization
struggle. While the union has been engaged in outreach and
public education, it is also encouraging to see that the
media is covering the issue and that academics are lending
their insights to the campaign. Public support is so crucial
because it is the people who will be hurt the most by privatization
and while “50,000 EGAT workers demonstrating will
not change the government’s mind, he belief that protests
by the entire public will make a change in the government’s
plan.”
When asked if the union would go on strike if privatization
went ahead, Sirichai said that because electricity is so
important, EGAT does not want to disrupt the energy service
of the Thai people. The EGAT workers are counting on the
public campaign to halt the government’s plan before
the privatization of EGAT can go through.
Lek concluded: “if our most basic services are privatized,
a corporate monopoly will not only be able to squeeze profit
out of the Thai people, but will also be able to hold the
country hostage.”
Katharine Shaw
photo : www.lueget.com
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