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Published on November 1, 2007

The State Railway of Thailand is worried about a prolonged work stoppage, SRT chairman Siva Saengmanee said, after passenger and goods transportation were brought to a halt nation-wide yesterday in its worst-ever strike since 1988.

Siva said the SRT is yet to estimate the damage caused by the day-long strike.

While the stoppage continued for seven days during the 1988 strike, yesterday 200 train drivers and 194 mechanics concurrently took sick leave, which led to the halt of 37 out of the 80 available trains.

"The employees have the right to [take sick leave]. Under SRT regulations, all employees can take two days of sick leave without a medical certificate. If these sick drivers and mechanics resume work, others could take sick leave," Siva said.

While thousands of passengers were stranded, cargo trains transporting petroleum, crude oil, cement and natural gas were also halted. Some of the cargo belonged to PTT and Bangchak Petroleum. While the companies' executives said the damage so far is slight, they are concerned that a continued stoppage could delay the shipment of refined oil and could lead to fuel shortages in some provinces.

The Transport Ministry's short-term solution yesterday was to provide 500 bus trips for the stranded passengers.

An official at Surin train station said it had lost about Bt150,000 due to the strike. All train commuters were advised to use buses.

Manop Muendej, head of the Tan Yong Mat train station in Narathiwat, said they had almost run out of money reimbursing passengers for cancelled tickets. About 200 passengers returned their tickets to the station.

SRT acting Governor Bancha Khongnakhon said the strike had greatly tarnished the state enterprise's image and inconvenienced regular passengers, particularly low-income earners.

At press time, negotiations were on-going between the union represented by its chief Riangsak Kaengkan, Deputy Transport Minister Sansern Wongcha-um, and the SRT board. The union vowed to put its men back to work within 30 minutes if both sides could agree to the terms.

When Sansern visited SRT to attend a board meeting at noon, the union had refused to hold talks with him.

The labour union yesterday raised six points, which it said were the reasons for the strike. While the issue of land-lease renewal with the Central Group, the extension of the construction period for the Airport Rail Link, and the extended employment for CFO Arak Ratboriharn were significant, the main point of contention is that the SRT law is being revised without their consent. (See Box)

The strike began at 11pm on Tuesday, when at least three trains from Hua Lamphong to the South stopped unexpectedly at Thongsoong station in Nakhon Si Thammarat. This was followed by the stoppage of trains at Nakhon Sawan in the North and Nakhon Ratchasima in the Northeast the following morning.

Sansern clarified to the board yesterday the issues that had upset the union. He insisted that employees' benefits would not be affected with the plan to allow private companies to transport goods by rail. Moreover, the SRT would benefit as the private companies would pay rent to the SRT.

"This does not mean that SRT will be privatised," he insisted, adding he is ready to explain the issue to the union.

Regarding the news yesterday that employees fear the trade pact with Japan would allow Japanese companies to use the Thai rail network, Commerce Minister Krirk-krai Jirapaet said that the liberalisation under the trade pact is in line with Thailand's obligations to the World Trade Organisation.

However, he said that if Thailand liberalises the logistics industry, it would benefit the Kingdom hugely in terms of competitiveness as its efficiency would improve.

Six complaints of the SRT union

1.The board's plan to renew a land-lease contract with Central Group without calling for a general bid under the Public/Private Joint Venture Act.

2.The board's failure to prosecute a Buri Ram politician who holds title to land that is already owned by the SRT.

3.The board's decision to agree to the extension of the Airport Rail Link construction contract, which means a loss of over Bt1 billion for the SRT.

4.The board's extension of the employment contract of chief financial officer Arak Ratboriharn, despite accusations of "incompetence".

5.The SRT's failure to raise fares or secure compensation for low fares, which have caused accumulated losses of Bt23 billion.

6.The board's proposed amendments to the law governing the SRT, which have proceeded without the union's consent.

Watcharapong Thongrung

 The Nation