Thailand

 

On 2 October 2007, Sony Technology (Thailand) has agreed to reinstate all the 16 union leaders who were dismissed on 12 July 2007.

On 12 July 2007, 18 workers of Sony Technology Thailand were dismissed, one day before the general congress of the ‘Sony Union’ (Thailand), the new union they had organized. They were the second group of workers’ leaders at Sony Technology which had been dismissed this year due to their attempt to organize a union. (Four workers’ leaders who tried to organize a union on 24 May 2007 were dismissed after they had processed the registration of the union. However, their struggle to form a union was carried on with success: the union was officially registered on 12 June 2007.)

The workers had launched the complaint to the Ministry of Labour and requested Thai Labour Campaign (TLC) to help campaign on their case. TLC informed GoodElectronics regarding the case and publicised their story on TLC’s documentary ‘End Slaves’ and on TLC’s website. Thai Eastern Seaboard Unions Group also lent great support.

The code that was developed by the electronics industry, the Electronics Industry Code of Conduct (EICC), also signed by Sony, states that ‘suppliers are to respect the rights of workers to associate freely, join labour unions, seek representation and or join workers’ councils in accordance with local laws.’

With support from GoodElectronics, the meeting with the Sony Netherlands, one of the biggest shareholders of Sony Technology (Thailand), was held at the Trade Union Museum in Amsterdam on 13 September.

As a result, Sony Technology (Thailand) agreed to reinstate every worker, told everyone to report for the work on 8 October, and agreed to pay all the back wages to all the workers, showing that Sony Netherlands and the Head office of Sony Group in Tokyo took up the case seriously.

GoodElectronics is an international network on human rights and sustainability in the electronics industry.

More details of the case may be found at: http://www.thailabour.org/wnews/070904.htm.