• 
• 

Published on July 12, 2007

Pisamai, a garment quality controller, said she did not know what to do with her life now, as she had no savings at all.

A single mother, 38-year-old Pisamai was raising her 14-year-old son, paying house instalments and supporting her ageing parents upcountry.

"My only hope now is for the employer to pay us the Bt4,000 wages for the past week," she said, adding that the company - whose president is 50-year-old Yaowalak Kul-opas - had given no hint about the closure, except for a recent move to suspend overtime work.

Another female worker, Boonrod Kerdpong, 39, said she heard the company

had problems due to a

lack of orders, prompting some stockholders to

withdraw their shares.

But the company had not confirmed or denied the truth of the rumour and there was even talk of expansion plans for a factory in Vietnam.

"They should have told us about the closure at all three factories, not just abruptly closed like this," she said. The closure had affected her badly as she had to pay rent, support her child and also her parents upcountry.

"Finding a new job at this age is tough. I'm so stressed that I can't think of anything right now, so I'll just protest. I don't know what to do if the company does not pay me," she said.

The company's main factory on King Kaew Road, where thousands of workers protested against their sudden redundancy yesterday, had only one security guard walking about the premises. There was no sign of any of the company's executives.

Pirapol Khumsuk

The Nation