Funai Factory Closure Leaves 831 Jobless, Workers Await Compensation

[webfact]

Picture courtesy: Kapook

 

Over 800 employees have been left in limbo following the sudden shutdown of Funai (Thailand) Co's factory in Nakhon Ratchasima. This development follows a bankruptcy plan approval for its Japanese parent company, Funai Electric, on October 24th.

 

The Thai subsidiary declared its inability to import essential production materials, leading to its closure on November 14th, as mentioned in a statement from their facility in Pak Chong district dated November 8th.

 

In response to this, local authorities from the Pak Chong district office, the Nakhon Ratchasima provincial labour office, and the provincial security office have set up registration booths to assist laid-off workers in filing for benefits. On Wednesday, a large number of former employees arrived at the factory seeking assistance, yet none had received compensation at that time.

 

Apichart Suethuen, a senior production manager among the 831 affected workers, noted Wednesday as their last working day. He mentioned that all employees would seek unemployment benefits, but the company admitted it couldn't afford immediate payouts.

One worker, Pucharas, shared her experience, having worked at Funai for 19 years. She received a notice of 190,000 baht in compensation, yet details on the payment timeline remained unclear.

 

Initially, the company had promised compensation within 90 days. Pucharas and others demanded adherence to this timeline, stressing their financial obligations and difficulties in finding new jobs, especially for older workers.

 

The unresolved situation, including failure to receive legal compensations and rumours of insufficient company funds, has left the 831 workers anxious and frustrated.

 

Many have threatened to approach the provincial labour office if the promised payments are not made within the stipulated period. The abrupt factory closure starkly underscores the challenges workers face amidst corporate financial collapses, reported Bangkok Post.

 

-- 2024-11-13

 

 

[hotchilli]

12 hours ago, webfact said:

One worker, Pucharas, shared her experience, having worked at Funai for 19 years. She received a notice of 190,000 baht in compensation, yet details on the payment timeline remained unclear.

Sometime never ?

[RichardColeman]

12 hours ago, webfact said:

The Thai subsidiary declared its inability to import essential production materials, leading to its closure on November 14th

I'm more interested in why that happen, was that a financial issue or were they blocked by some Thailand red tape from doing so ? 

[0ffshore360]

Funai Electric Japan struggling too

[jcmj]

I wish them luck in getting the compensation due, but am not holding my breath. 
I have a feeling that this will not be good news to any company that intends to open a business here that requires parts from overseas. Would love to know if Thailand stopped them from importing the goods, or just taxed the stuff and made it a long difficult process.