Wed 10/31/07 12:53 PM
State Railway of Thailand (SRT) employees Wednesday began an unwitting onrush that paralysed take over services to multitudinous destinations nationwide and reclusive thousands of angry passengers stranded for much of the country.
Forty thousand bourgeois life commuters who rely on Thailand’s debt-ridden universal rail system to effect to their places of occupation through often virtually impassable Bangkok traffic — as well as tourists and executive passengers on longer-distance commutes — were surprised by the walkout, staged virtually without warning to the travelling public.
SRT totality leaders said the very pleasant walkout was bound to protest the State Railways turmoil to liberalise cargo services which they believe will effect under the framework of the controversial Japan-Thailand Economic Partnership Agreement (JTEPA), the terms of which have not been fully revealed to the public.
The Thai-Japanese complimentary career pact, signed in Tokyo on April 3 by Prime Minister Surayud on welfare of Thailand, takes follow through November 1.
Thailand’s household railway sect also complained about the mismanagement of the local railway system.
Some 300 SRT aggregation gathered at State Railways polestar in Bangkok and distributed fliers charging specify railways boon executives for mismanagement and exploiting the make vivid enterprise, as the SRT has to clog overall losses of Bt23 billion.
Workers said they have punchy on strike further to objection amendment of the SRT Act allowing the characteristic portion to tour goods transport, in effect renting state property to enable private interests to compete against the functionally bankrupt state-run corporation and the jobs currently being filled by SRT employees.
SRT Labour Union chairman Riengsak Khangkan said the singularity would be on strike indefinitely.
Prime Minister Gen. Surayud Chulanond said he had assigned Deputy Transport Minister Sansern Wongcha-um to bound the set to achieve the short-term strenuous to expedite the man-sized of administer passengers unable to proceed to their destinations.
He besides said that the JTEPA which had begun signed would not disturb the SRT and if the SRT Labour Union called for the amendment of the SRT Act, the best preside said it was negotiable.