Saturday, March 05, 2005

Union busting at Thai factory producing for Decathlon and Nike

On 29 October 2004, three executives of a recently formed union at MSP Sportswear in Thailand were dismissed. Since then, the remaining nine executives in the plant have been subjected to constant harassment and have been prevented from carrying out their union activities.

In the period since the dismissal there have been several meetings between the union executives, the local organization supporting them (CLIST), government officials and the main buyer, Nike. So far this has not resulted in any real progress, even though the conciliator from the Labour and Welfare department personally advised that the fired union executives should be rehired. The other buyer, the French company Decathlon, has reportedly sent an audit team, but has not made direct contact with CLIST or the union.

Please find below a chronology of the case, an appeal for action and sample letters plus addresses.