KRTC won't hire more Thais

taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/ … 2003300854

Once the rails have been laid and a section of collapsed tunnel has been repaired, the remaining work will require mostly semi-skilled and skilled workers, not laborers. I don’t know why the TT omitted that part of the story.

Really? Is that how it was when the wire went out and the TT then lopped it? Strange, but I suppose more newsworthy. :unamused:

HGF

That’s probably true, but it’s certainly good timing. I was watching the Chinese news coverage of the latest strike and they basically described it as a paid vacation full of boozing and whoring.

Don’t know about whoring and boozing, but it seems to have been basically petty gripes over what they claimed was poor quality food provided by the Kaohsiung airport catering services, who were contracted by KRTC to provide meals after last year’s strike. They showed the food and it was patently not sub-par. In addition, they had also allowed the workers to set up their own panel to plan menus.
It’s also interesting to note that of the three dormitories set up for the workers after last year’s strike, only one had any complaints, yet all are supplied by the same catering company.
I’m sure as hell not standing up for KRTC but IMO, the most recent action was a ploy by a few hotheads looking to cash in on the bad PR of the earlier strike to see what they could get out of it.
What? You don’t believe there are Thai workers who would do such a thing?

Was there any fish sauce and chilli on offer? Without that it really would have been sub-par for a Thai. I’m also quite sure a Thai labourers’ trappings in Taiwan don’t extend to the level of boozing and whoring he could do at home either.

HG

A couple of months ago when I was in Bangkok, my taxi driver started raising hell about Taiwan when he found out where I had flown in from. All the MFA’s claims that the riot etc wouldn’t hurt relations seems to be for local Taiwanese consumption. The Thais on the street know alot more about what’s been going on than the people here in Taiwan. And they are pissed off.


Thai workers in Taiwan.

[quote=“sandman”] I’m sure as hell not standing up for KRTC but IMO, the most recent action was a ploy by a few hotheads looking to cash in on the bad PR of the earlier strike to see what they could get out of it.
What? You don’t believe there are Thai workers who would do such a thing?[/quote]

I’m not saying that - I’m just saying there’s always room for discussion and the Thai workers we’ve talked to have told a different story from the company’s statements on the issue.

[quote=“Comrade Stalin”]A couple of months ago when I was in Bangkok, my taxi driver started raising hell about Taiwan when he found out where I had flown in from. All the MFA’s claims that the riot etc wouldn’t hurt relations seems to be for local Taiwanese consumption. The Thais on the street know alot more about what’s been going on than the people here in Taiwan. And they are pissed off.


Thai workers in Taiwan.[/quote]
They are KRTC workers. Before last year’s strike took place – those cramped conditions were one of the things they were striking about. The workers staying there have since been relocated to at least three other dormitories with supposedly better conditions.
But goddam! I’m not about to start trying to defend the Taiwanese treatment of foreign workers! I’m just passing on the rest of the report that was hacked up by the Taipei Times.
And I’ll tell you something else. Compared to the bare-walled, un-airconditioned shipping containers my only Thai laborer acquaintances were living in when they were building the No. 3 Freeway a few years back, that picture shows fucking palatial quarters.

Looks nicer than we had in the army. At least they have ladders and steel lockers. They get paid better, as well. But I know, apples and oranges and all that.

[quote=“sandman”]Don’t know about whoring and boozing, but it seems to have been basically petty gripes over what they claimed was poor quality food provided by the Kaohsiung airport catering services, who were contracted by KRTC to provide meals after last year’s strike. They showed the food and it was patently not sub-par. In addition, they had also allowed the workers to set up their own panel to plan menus.
It’s also interesting to note that of the three dormitories set up for the workers after last year’s strike, only one had any complaints, yet all are supplied by the same catering company.
I’m sure as hell not standing up for KRTC but IMO, the most recent action was a ploy by a few hotheads looking to cash in on the bad PR of the earlier strike to see what they could get out of it.
What? You don’t believe there are Thai workers who would do such a thing?[/quote]

From what I’ve been led to believe, this kind of stuff is quite common in Thailand. It’s almost a surprise that it has not happened more. But I guess the screening they go through eliminates much of the hotheads