Ex-president Piyasvasti takes THAI to court
Axed Thai Airways International (THAI) president Piyasvasti Amranand yesterday said he had sued THAI in the Labour Court for injustice in terminating his employment a year before he had completed his four-year term on July 11, 2013.
He has demanded that the company pay Bt10 million in compensation or reinstate him. The court has set the first hearing on July 24 at 1pm.
Piyasvasti said the lawsuit was to set standards and good governance in Thai state enterprises.
As THAI was a state enterprise registered with the Stock Exchange of Thailand and had private-sector players and public members holding shares through the Finance Ministry, Piyasvasti said the THAI board could not run the company this way or there would be no need for key performance indicator (KPI) scores or stock market registration.
The board’s reasons for sacking him – discord in communication between the board and the president and the problematic purchase of 38 planes – were not sufficiently clear because THAI’s KPI score was 87 per cent and its first trimester performance yielded Bt3.6 billion in profit, whilst other airlines were in the red.
Whether the decision was political, Piyasvasti said it was the board chairman’s place to explain.
He expressed concern over THAI’s future, fearing it would go back to the age of favouritism and intervention. He said the board’s recent resolution to have 200 top positions, including branch managers abroad, get approval from the board first could damage THAI’s good governance system and affect the organisation.
He said he would now devote himself to the Energy for Environment Foundation, which he chairs, and rest more.
THAI labour union president Jaemsri Sukchoterat and fellow employees backed Piyasvasti’s fight through the justice system as it would set standards and good governance in the organisation and Thai society.
A source at the Department of Labour Protection and Welfare said yesterday that the Piyasvasti case is not covered by the labour law as he was an executive. The State Enterprise Labour Relations Act 2000 section 51 specifies that executives of any state-owned enterprises are prohibited from being a member of their labour unions.
“However, if Piyasvasti was terminated from his position unfairly, he has the right to file a lawsuit in the Labour Court,” he said.
