Union seeks higher compensatory rates amid prospect of TMB-Thanachart merger
The labour union at Thanachart Bank (TBANK) has asked the Finance Ministry for its workers to be paid higher than minimum wages due to the likely layoffs that will follow its merger with the Thai Military Bank (TMB).
Suphachai Phattharaphisutthana, the union head at the state-owned bank, said about 5,000 jobs at both banks could be lost.
He said that although executives at both banks has vowed not to lay off any staff, he feared this would just a usual tactic and that they would apply pressure on those at risk by imposing much stricter appraisals on their performances.
“Through tougher appraisals, the staff at risk of being laid off will become anxious and depressed,” he said, adding that he thought that those to be laid off would find it very difficult to find new jobs in the same industry, due to the current economic environment.
Suphachai said he had formally submitted the wages request to the Finance Ministry, a major shareholder in the TMB.
Ronadol Numnonda, a deputy Bank of Thailand (BOT) governor, said that while the banks were committed to making the merger work some employees were already highly prone to disruptive behaviour and needed to adjust their attitudes.
Thanachart CEO Praphan Anupongongarch said that after the merger the bank would seek to reassign some staff to different tasks, instead of laying them off.
He rejected the union’s demand for the banks to publicise their plans, saying the central bank first needed to conduct due diligence in relation to the merger.
