Thai labour leaders oppose demonstration control bill

BANGKOK, March 5 (TNA) - Thai labour leaders have urged the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) to review its public gathering bill, as they fear it will affect workers' right to rally. Wilaiwan Saetia, Chairperson of the Thai Labour Solidarity Committee, and Sawit Kaewwan, Secretary-General of the State Enterprises Workers' Relations Confederation, sent their opposition letter to NLA President Pornpetch Wichitcholachai at the Parliament building on Thursday. In the letter, both the labour leaders claimed that the bill gave too much power to authorities and expressed their concerns that the power could be abused in a way that would affect workers' right to rally, urging employers to respect workers' fundamental rights. The labour leaders asked NLA to, thus, separate political rallies from peaceful gatherings of workers and proposed that NLA organize public hearings on the bill. After receiving the letter, Somchai Sawaengkan, secretary to an NLA committee on affair coordination, said he would forward the letter to NLA and his committee would listen directly to workers' representatives. In another development, a group of Ramkhamhaeng University students also sent a letter to the NLA president, demanding for the resignation of NLA members who appointed their relatives as their assistants and advisers to receive taxpayers' money. (TNA)