State unions discuss how to better services
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Leaders of state enterprise unions met yesterday to brainstorm on how they could win over the public by improving services and resist the trend of privatisation.
They expressed concern that the public often views labour unions as preoccupied with two issues – higher wages and staging strikes – while in fact they see their role as the guardian of workers’ rights and public utilities.
Veteran labour activist Sakdina Chatrakul na Ayudhya said trade and state enterprise unions must go out of their way to visibly contribute to society through activities or campaigns that are not limited to issues of their own immediate interest.
The situation is dire, with unionised workers shrinking from 3 per cent of the labour force a decade or so ago to a mere 1.47 per cent or 505,000 members.
Savit Kaew-wan, leader of the State Rail Enterprise Union, called on his peers to help improve the standard of public services and cajoled the government to support such a move. Union leaders should convey the importance of social welfare and ensure the public gets access to basic public utilities, he said.
Union leaders and labour activists should organise more unions, as membership continues to fall.
“It’s arguably the lowest [percentage] in the world now,” he said. “How can we face the world then?”
Sawanee Chumchalieo, an official of the Foundation for Consumers, said many of the poor services provided by state enterprises ended up being taken up by the foundation after complaints were made, such as Bangkok bus drivers driving recklessly and interprovincial coaches showing violent movies during trips.
“Bus passengers ought to be the masters of their own lives and not have to put their lives in the hands of [such] drivers,” said Sawanee, whose foundation has helped take many such cases to court.
People who have problems with services provided by state enterprises should lodge a complaint with the foundation instead of merely whining by themselves as “one complaint lodged is better than 1,000 self complaints”.
The foundation is also proposing that the government set up a 24-hour call centre for bus driver complaints as eight people die from car accidents on average.
A labour leader confessed that it was unfortunate that consumers had to turn to the foundation instead of taking their grievances directly to the state enterprise that provided the poor service as well as to its union. More effort should be made to make unions more relevant.
