A labour union in northern Thailand has urged the authorities to take legal action to force a textile company to compensate workers for suspending operations.  

On 13 August 2015, representatives of the Textile Labour Union in the northern province of Chiang Mai came to the provincial Damrong Tham Centre, set up under the Interior Ministry to receive complaints, to talk to the Governor of Chiang Mai.

The union representatives urged the state official to take legal measures to demand compensation for the employees of Georgie & Lu Co. Ltd, a textile company producing clothes under the brands ‘Neon Buddha’ and ‘Pure Hand Knitting’, which halted production from 8 June to 7 July 2015, throwing 76 workers temporarily out of work.

The company announced on 3 June 2015 that it would suspend operations in accordance to Article 75 of the 1998 Labour Protection Act. According to union members, however, the company did not compensate the workers with at least 75 per cent of wages for working days during the suspension as the labour law states.

The worker representatives also called on the state officials to investigate into the company’s claim that it was experiencing financial problems.

Most workers, especially those with families to take care of, were affected by the lack of compensation when their jobs were suspended, the union members said.

The state officials promised to look into the complaint and said that the investigation of the company’s financial status would take about two weeks.   

The workers had earlier submitted a complaint on the matter to the Welfare and Labour Protection Office of Chiang Mai twice, on 2 July and 5 August. However, nothing had been done.