AutoAlliance (Thailand) Co. Ltd. (AAT), a joint venture between Ford Motor Company and Mazda Motor Corporation, based at the Eastern Seaboard Industrial Estate (ESIE), locked out its Ford-Mazda Thailand Union (FMTU) employees on 5 January after negotiations broke down over wages and bonus issues. The plant’s 2,200 full-time workers were given until 6 January to either report to work and accept the AAT’s offer on wages and bonus or face a lockout lockout A form of industrial action whereby an employer refuses work to its employees or temporarily shuts down operations. . Employees accepting the offer would be guaranteed full pay and benefits and receive a full-year bonus. During the lockout lockout A form of industrial action whereby an employer refuses work to its employees or temporarily shuts down operations. AAT utilised uniformed and non-uniformed police and Thai military personnel to intimidate workers demonstrating against the lockout lockout A form of industrial action whereby an employer refuses work to its employees or temporarily shuts down operations. . The owner of the ESIE filed charges against six union leaders for damages caused by blocked traffic during the union picketing picketing Demonstration or patrolling outside a workplace to publicise the existence of an industrial dispute or a strike, and to persuade other workers not to enter the establishment or discourage consumers from patronising the employer. Secondary picketing involves picketing of a neutral establishment with a view to putting indirect pressure on the target employer. . The lockout lockout A form of industrial action whereby an employer refuses work to its employees or temporarily shuts down operations. ended on 10 February when AAT and FMTU negotiated a settlement to the dispute.
In a related matter, subcontracted workers at the plant, whom AAT hires through a HR Digest Co., Ltd. (HRD), and who work on the production line with FTMU members, joined the FMTU during the lockout lockout A form of industrial action whereby an employer refuses work to its employees or temporarily shuts down operations. and requested that HRD enter into negotiations for a collective agreement. In response, AAT locked out the subcontracted workers and HRD dismissed 108 employees. On 15 November, the Labour Relations Commission ruled against 80 dismissed HRD workers who had filed a complaint that alleged they were illegally dismissed for their union activities after they joined the FMTU. The workers plan to appeal the decision to the Provincial Labour court.