Sad Story Of Injured Burmese Construction Worker In Chiang Mai

[TheEmperorOfTheNorth]

I quit reading Thai newspapers because of the blatant censorship since the coup, but sometimes you find yourself on an airplane with nothing else to read other than TG's in-flight drivel, so then you grab a Bangkok Post.. Did anyone read this sad story:

http://www.bangkokpost.com/281007_Perspect...007_pers001.php

Completely absent in this story is the company that's getting the building built in the first place, the Shangri-La hotel chain. Given that the contractor as well as the Thai labour department seem to be engaged in a competitioin on who can be the most careless and irresponsible, there's one of the biggest multinational hotel chains in the world who I'm sure could spare a couple baht to do the responsible thing for one of the people actually building their fancy hotel rooms that they'll be renting out at thousands of baht a night.

You know what... That Makes me Mad.

In case the story disappears from the site I include it here in full:

---

FAILED SAFETY NET

The exploitation of a Burmese migrant worker involved in a precedent-setting appeal for compensation did not end when she became an accident victim, writes ERIKA FRY from Chiang Mai

Thirty-six-year-old construction worker Nang Noom has spent her last 11 months in a Chiang Mai hospital bed. On bad days, she thinks about suicide; on the slightly better ones, she thinks of all the places to which she can no longer walk.

If she looks forward to anything, it's to the infrequent visits of her husband Sai Boon, who she fears will become unfaithful, and to whom she fears she is a burden.

She is paralysed - stranded miles away from her home and family in Burma's Shan state and stuck at the centre of a worker's compensation case that even with the backing of national and international law and a corps of human rights workers battling on her behalf - has, in its 11 months, moved almost nowhere.

She finally got a wheelchair, last month. It was a hand-me-down from a former Thai hospital patient; a donation which has provided Nang Noom with the mobility her employer, the Social Security Office (SSO), and the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security - citing her lack of proper passport at the request - would not.

Nang Noom was severely injured - almost killed - last December when she was struck by a piece of a 300-kilogramme mould that fell from the 12th floor of the Shangri-la Hotel she was helping to construct.

She doesn't remember anything about the day of the accident, only waking up two months later in a hospital ward and hearing doctors talk about her spinal injuries, and how she could no longer walk. The blow also left her with broken bones, internal bleeding, and throat damage that prevented her, for two months, from speaking.

Migrants make up the majority of the workforce at a number of Thailand's construction sites.

She had been working at the Chiang Mai construction site since June, hired to move materials and collect scrap metal around the site for 130 baht a day, 20 baht less than the city's minimum wage.

Though she found construction work physically difficult, and much tougher than the domestic work she had done for the first three years after migrating from Burma, she had entered the industry "out of love," wishing to work alongside her husband.

During her time there, she witnessed accidents involving cranes, saw a worker fall from scaffolding, and watched many others step on nails; but she didn't worry about her own safety.

She had purchased boots and gloves - the protective equipment few employers supply and few of the migrant workers can afford. "I was careful, I didn't think it could happen to me."

Nang Noom is one of 200,000 registered Burmese migrants in Thailand, and each year since 2004, she had paid the associated costs of such status - 1,900 baht for a work permit and the 1,900 baht that entitled her to health care under the government scheme.

The greater share of Thailand's estimated 2 million migrant workers are unregistered (and excluded from the government health scheme); largely because there has not been a registration mechanism open to Burmese migrants since 2004, but also because the system is confusing and extremely restrictive for workers.

Nang Noom, in her hospital room in Chiang Mai.

While Cambodia and Laos have struck agreements with Thailand to formalise the migrant labour system, Burma has been uncooperative in working to establish a similar process.

Yet, while Nang Noom is registered - fees paid, fingerprints taken, data entered into the Ministry of Interior's system - her 11-month battle for disability compensation has proven that, even with that status, she is not protected from discrimination, nor the obfuscation and incompetence of government bureaucracy.

Immediately after her accident, her employer claimed he would take care of all costs until she had recovered and returned to work. He also owed Nang Noom and Sai Boon several weeks of unpaid wages, which he agreed to pay.

When he still had not made good on his word weeks later, Sai Boon approached the employer who this time offered to give the couple 30,000 baht, and 10,000 baht for transport, if they went back to Burma.

As this was neither particularly fair nor feasible, Sai Boon made his first of many trips to the Chiang Mai Social Security Office for assistance.

Begrudging compensation

Bamboo scaffolding at an apartment complex being built near Bangkok. Sometimes the scaffolding snaps, or sometimes the workers slip.

Thai labour law (along with obligations under a number of constitutional, regional, and international documents) guarantees all workers, regardless of nationality, compensation for work-related accidents and disability. The mechanism for this is the Workmen's Compensation Fund (WCF), which is managed by the SSO and to which all employers in Thailand must contribute a risk-based premium. The fund is intended as a system of insurance for both workers and employers - a safety net should occupational calamity strike.

A spokesman for Surin Jiravisit, secretary-general of the SSO, echoed this compensation-for-all interpretation as well when he said in a phone interview earlier this week, "that all people who are working are entitled to the WCF scheme. If someone is injured at work, there is an obligation to look after that worker."

Or so it seemed. "Of course they must be legal," he added with a chuckle (to be fair, maybe a nervous one). He explained that if they are "illegal", the employer - and not the WCF - has duty to look after them. The SSO has a role only in that it "can force the employer to pay the worker."

This explanation helps to explain why, in the 11 months since the accident, Nang Noom has received 17,260 baht - compensation that has been paid by her employer, not the WCF - slowly, begrudgingly, and only after being mandated, also slowly and begrudgingly, by the SSO (the first installment was ordered 8 months after her accident).

It seems that while Nang Noom has been battling for this compensation, the SSO and Nang Noom's employer have been battling about which of them should not have to pay it.

It is this dispute - which oddly is being contested now, only for the first time (see related article) - over who should be responsible for paying migrants compensation when they are injured or killed at work, that lies at the heart of Nang Noom's case.

SSO says, in this case at least, they are not, and they have given a range of flimsy reasons as to why. These justifications - outlined at a meeting regarding Nang Noom's appeal of the SSO's decision, earlier last week - have run from Nang Noom's lack of proper travelling document (which is equated with illegal entry into Thailand) to the fact that Nang Noom's employer had not paid the required premium to the WCF (which SSO is nonetheless, supposed to enforce) to the difficulty involved in identifying and documenting Burmese workers, because they have no last names.

At the meeting, SSO also clarified that in "illegal", they count both registered and unregistered migrants that lack "nationality verification", or a proper travelling document, like a passport.

Because of the situation in neighbouring countries - particularly Burma - obtaining such documents is a near impossibility and the majority of Thailand's migrant workforce, in SSO's eyes, is "illegal".

Somchai Homlaor, secretary-general of the Human Rights and Development Foundation, finds such semantics and excuses "ridiculous".

"200,000 Burmese migrant workers are registered with the Ministry of Interior. The Ministry of Labour issued them a work permit card. So why does the government not accept this? Can they not trust their own information system? Why did they issue an ID card? There is more than one way to identify a person."

He adds that such policy "is very discriminatory towards the country's Burmese migrants," adding that another country's politics shouldn't relate to the way Thailand treats its workforce.

It should be noted that before the SSO settled on this position, it had given those involved with Nang Noom's case 6 different interpretations of the WCF policy (both favourable and unfavourable to Nang Noom) and engaged in considerable foot dragging.

SSO spent four months investigating the validity of Nang Noom's "disability"; a process SSO made infinitely more complicated in its insistence to correspond only with Nang Noom (as opposed to hospital workers or her lawyer) via standard post.

Yet, while the SSO cleared itself of its own obligations, in passive-aggressive consolation to Nang Noom, it also ruled that she was entitled to 15 more years of compensation, at 60% her daily wage (the same that she would receive from the WCF) - it's just the employer would have to pay it.

Nang Noom's employer paid her less than minimum wage - rarely in a timely fashion. He had failed to contribute to the WCF and to report Nang Noom's accident - all violations of SSO's own labour laws.

Yet, when it came to ordering him to compensate Nang Noom, SSO simply ordered him to compensate her, in honour code fashion, with no formal monitoring or follow-up system to enforce it. Stranger still, the SSO refused to inform Nang Noom or those working on her behalf, as to when and for how much she would be compensated, saying that information was between the SSO and employer.

Only when pressured, was this information revealed to her - and with it, the discovery that the employer had not in fact compensated Nang Noom to the extent ordered by the SSO.

Somchai finds SSO's employer-compensates solution as flawed as the reasoning that underlies it. "They say they can order employers to pay, but it's hard to enforce and not secure."

Even with honest employers, he says the solution is impractical because of the basic nature of the migrant worker.

"To truly secure migrant workers that have been in accidents fair compensation, they should be getting it from the WCF."

More than anything, he argues the matter should be handled this way, as a simple matter of human rights.

"Migrant workers have become victims of exploitation," and the laws meant to protect them go "unenforced because of prejudice, discrimination and corruption," he says.

Waiting on a decision

If Nang Noom's case has revealed gaps in national policy, it has more strikingly illuminated the lack of humanity she has been shown through the ordeal.

Even after having had her life shattered through hard labour - for a hotel that come Dec 2007, will generate considerable income for the country - she has been treated as a problem for her employer, and a burden to the SSO. The exploitation Nang Noom endured as one of Thailand's 2 million migrant workers did not end when she became an accident victim.

"There are obligations under international and Asean agreements, as well as Thai law. We will fight on with many cases, including that of Nang Noom, until the government admits that migrants fall under the Workmen's Compensation Act," vows Somchai.

The WCF Appeals Committee has said it will finalise its review of the case and announce its final decision as to whether Nang Noom has rights to access the WCF next month.

If she's denied those rights Somchai and other case workers say they'll be ready to take the issue to court and fight for what should be a precedent-setting case with regards to migrant rights.

Unfortunately for Nang Noom, that would also mean more time, which is something, as the hospital pressures her to move out and the days on her work permit run down, she doesn't necessarily have (if that were to happen, and she had to go back to Burma, it's even less likely she could count on SSO-ordered compensation coming from her employer).

For now, though, she'll wait for November, trying to forget the uncertainty of the future as she learns to climb in and out of her new wheelchair.

This is the first of a series on occupational safety for migrant workers.

Edited November 1, 2007 by TheEmperorOfTheNorth

[Maejo Man]

One of those very sad cases that happens with monotonous regularity in the Thai construction industry.

Perhaps some stiff e-mails from former guests of the Shangri-la Hotel chain thretening never to stay there again untill the matter is addressed. Do we have a CEO's e-mail address?

[Ulysses G.]

One of those very sad cases that happens with monotonous regularity in the Thai construction industry.

Perhaps some stiff e-mails from former guests of the Shangri-la Hotel chain thretening never to stay there again untill the matter is addressed. Do we have a CEO's e-mail address?

Hear, hear!

[Bill97]

Or some demonstrations for their grand opening?

[chiang mai]

One of those very sad cases that happens with monotonous regularity in the Thai construction industry.

Perhaps some stiff e-mails from former guests of the Shangri-la Hotel chain thretening never to stay there again untill the matter is addressed. Do we have a CEO's e-mail address?

Count me in on that!

[cmsoulbrother]

A very sad story, and one of the few publicized ones of migrant workers getting screwed over every which way imaginable; and I think that all things considered requesting that the Shangrila Hotel intervene probably does a lot more good to the world than it does harm. They can likely pressure a resolution if they feel a risk of adverse publicity.

But are they really responsible?

If I hire a legitimate construction firm to build my house and one of their workers is injured due to lax safety standards or whatever by the construction firm, am I ethically or morally responsible for that injury? Should I feel compelled to step in at personal expense if the company that is legally and morally responsible fails to fulfill their obligations?

I don't know... Of course you'd want to help if you could, but if it meant the difference between sending your kids to a good school, or paying for a life of hospital care, and you didn't really feel responsible...what would you do?

Anyways, it's very sad, and I truly hope that this woman does get what she is entitled to.

[siam-i-am]

A very sad story, and one of the few publicized ones of migrant workers getting screwed over every which way imaginable; and I think that all things considered requesting that the Shangrila Hotel intervene probably does a lot more good to the world than it does harm. They can likely pressure a resolution if they feel a risk of adverse publicity.

But are they really responsible?

If I hire a legitimate construction firm to build my house and one of their workers is injured due to lax safety standards or whatever by the construction firm, am I ethically or morally responsible for that injury? Should I feel compelled to step in at personal expense if the company that is legally and morally responsible fails to fulfill their obligations?

I don't know... Of course you'd want to help if you could, but if it meant the difference between sending your kids to a good school, or paying for a life of hospital care, and you didn't really feel responsible...what would you do?

Anyways, it's very sad, and I truly hope that this woman does get what she is entitled to.

Yes they are responsible. They should not have given the contract to the builder if he wasn't properly insured, they cannot pass the buck, and should face the consequences. If anyone has the address of the company please write and tell them, that it won't be a pretty opening unless they see to it that the "builder" does the right thing.

[BossHogg]

No the hotel are not legally liable if they have legally employed a firm to do the work...On moral grounds they could and probably should step in here, before they get seriously bad press.

They could in fact with hold payment to the construction firm until they see the injured party compensated, that usually gets people motivated in L.O.S. Im surprised shes only just got a wheelchair , they are not that expensive here, my wife recently bought half a dozen for folks in her village.

[tayto]

http://www.hotel-online.com/News/PR2002_2n..._GAngelini.html

I have send this group an e-mail .

[Maejo Man]

The Shangri La group have a wonderful page just for COMPLAINTS Mine just went in

[marshall]

which hosptial is she in.whos up for arranging a visit and maybe see if we can help her a little bit.

[tayto]

Just read this

<a href="http://workers.labor.net.au/89/c_historica...ture_shang.html" target="_blank">http://workers.labor.net.au/89/c_historica...ture_shang.html</a>

The email address to write to is

Send a protest message today to the Chief Executive and Managing Director of Shangri-La Hotels and Resosrts Mr. Giovanni Angelini.E-mail him at: [Sorry, email addresses can not be posted on the forum - they attract spam bots looking for information. For anyone interested, please PM tayto, or google the name of the director and 'e-mail'. /Meadish]

Edited November 1, 2007 by meadish_sweetball

[mcgriffith]

I read the same article the other day, truly a sad story.

Let me know if anyone would like to do a collection; I would be happy to contribute something.

[kash]

email sent from me as well, if they don't pay the bills, I won't be getting any more bills from Shangri-la either, or thats what I've told 'em

[TheEmperorOfTheNorth]

But are they really responsible?

If I hire a legitimate construction firm to build my house and one of their workers is injured due to lax safety standards or whatever by the construction firm, am I ethically or morally responsible for that injury? Should I feel compelled to step in at personal expense if the company that is legally and morally responsible fails to fulfill their obligations?

If someone got hurt building my house then yes I would feel enough responsibility to make sure the matter is handled in the most humane, dignified and speedy manner. If I would lean on the contractor to make sure he fulfills his commitments or step in myself with finanical aid would depend on the status of the contractor: if it's a proper company then yes I'd lean on them. If it's just Uncle Joe's Building around the corner who's building something for me cheap-cheap then I'd realize the ball's in my court on this one.

Actually, thinking about this more, I've made a mental note that if Uncle Joe and his Burmese Band are going to build something for me, I'll probably go out to Global House for the most basic safety equipment like helmets and dust masks. Totally minor investment compared to the cost of building something. Safety First!

[JuniorExPat]

I sent an email on this subject to the three email addresses that I found in a quick search along with using the complaints page on the Shangri-La website.

Hopefully the following does not break any forum rules regarding the posting of email addresses, I have tried to edit them into a spam bot unfriendly format. The email was sent to corporatepr at shangri-la dot com, slim at the same domain and also to mdslim at netvigator dot com (which came up as the email address for the CEO from the link provided by Tayto).

The netvigator email address came back with:

"Your e-mail has been automatically forwarded to my second e-mail address at giovannia at shangri-la dot com. From now on, please use giovannia at shangri-la dot com as my permanent e-mail address. Thank you."

That email was beaten into my inbox by:

Delivery Failure Report

Your message

Subject: Chiang Mai Shangri-La:

was not delivered to: <giovannia at shangri-la dot com> because:

User <giovannia at shangri-la dot com> not listed in Address Book

DO NOT REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE

Just a heads-up, thought some of you may want to know!

I'm not usually one for making these kind of complaints but the news story struck a chord with me and I couldn't settle until taking the opportunity to voice my opinion.

JxP

[hill16]

Hi folks,

This is an opportunity for Thaivisa as the largest Expat website in the world to use it's infuence to do some good for this lady.

Moderators, can a petition be signed by members acting as one group rather than sending individual emails? Maybe whoever receives the petition, be it the Shangri-La hotel group or the Thai SSO, would be more inclined to do something constructive?

Perhaps this topic can also be posted in General Topics for more TV members to see and act upon?

I hope we can do something as a group to help this lady.

Kind regards,

Hill16

[tayto]

I have informed them that Thaivisa members are very happy to accept the managements invitation

to the official opening of the new hotel in December.

[Crow Boy]

As requested this topic has been moved to General Foroum

regards

Crow Boy

Moderating Team

Thai Visa

[howtoescape]

It would be good to think a few folk on Thaivisa would make a difference in this womans case, but I cant see a global company making a payment to this lady as it could be construed as showing signs of guilt and leave them open to further forms of legal action.

A lot of men working on building sites in the UK under the CIS scheme arent insured and would get &lt;deleted&gt; all should the worst happen from the people they are building for.

[eek]

Hi folks,

This is an opportunity for Thaivisa as the largest Expat website in the world to use it's infuence to do some good for this lady.

Moderators, can a petition be signed by members acting as one group rather than sending individual emails? Maybe whoever receives the petition, be it the Shangri-La hotel group or the Thai SSO, would be more inclined to do something constructive?

Perhaps this topic can also be posted in General Topics for more TV members to see and act upon?

I hope we can do something as a group to help this lady.

Kind regards,

Hill16

Good idea.

Can someone more clued-up than I, clarify what the best way of going about 'complaining' to Shangri-la about this. Dont wish to send off an email that will get 'lost' or rejected. I also think a petition would gain more weight too. Much harder to ignore or write off.

[candoman89]

Sure as feces is odiferous; Shangri-La are liable. Thats why all companies (especially multinationals) require that contractors and subs have insurance and name the project owner as insured.

Actually you can complain to any of the Shangri-La hotels (email the GM) and they will forward it to head office. Trust me that the manure will hit the rotating disc on this one if enough complaints go in.

[eek]

Well, ok, worth a shot.

Still, would be good if TV could get involved with some kind of petition.

[JuniorExPat]

I'm impressed that I received a reply from the hotel:

Dear JuniorExPat(!!)

Greetings from Shangri-La Hotel, Chiang Mai.

Thank you for your email and comments in reference to the recent article in the Bangkok Post about the incident that occurred on the construction site last year.

We are very saddened by Nang Noom's situation and we appreciate you bringing this to our attention. We can assure you that we will be investigating this thoroughly with the contractor which employed Nang Noom.

Sincerely yours,

Name removed, General Manager

Shangri-La Hotel, Chiang Mai, 89/8 Chang Klan Road, Muang, Chiang Mai, Thailand, 50100

((66 53) 253 888 7(66 53) 253 800 +email address removed

I hope that it is sincere.

JxP

[tayto]

I got the same e-mail.

Dear Shangri-La Customer,

Greetings from Shangri-La Hotel, Chiang Mai.

Thank you for your email and comments in reference to the recent article in the Bangkok Post about the incident that occurred on the construction site last year.

We are very saddened by Nang Noom's situation and we appreciate you bringing this to our attention. We can assure you that we will be investigating this thoroughly with the contractor which employed Nang Noom.

Sincerely yours,

xxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx, General Manager

Edited November 3, 2007 by tayto

[WaiWai]

we appreciate you bringing this to our attention.

[stevemiddie]

I,ve emailed them too.

[justicefornangnoom]

Hi all,

Great someone has got things going here... I also read this item the other day, this Erika Fry seems to have a real skill for making people listen. Great writer hey, and great article!! Cannot wait for the next article, as it is part of a series it said... will check out BKK Post tommorrow. And was just searching net to find out whether anything is going on right now with this case, any action. Not enough, but some stuff getting started right??

****Anyone know the opening date of this new, expensive and luxurious hotel in Chiangmai?? I asked my friend, he is in on these things, and he said it is around 20th December but not sure as he has no invite (poor him :-( ). Anyone have some 'high-so' friends in Chiangmai, lets get an opening date, they must have their invites already right? How about we confirm the opening date, give Shangrila a christmas present by staging a protest, getting the media there, spoliling their opening, UNLESS they get to the table and give this lady some money and some promises RIGHT NOW before mid December. This Nang Noom, she no doubt came here from all the crap going on in Burma (Shan state I went there once, she is Shan, it is so beautiful but they still have a war going on there with the burmese military), and now this.. I dont even care about the law, i know Shangrila and Thai Government they are morally responsible for this case. If we push, maybe we can get formal (government) and informal (hotel) settlement here... Give some support for getting some justice for all workers in thailand, cause this is just one case right?? I am sure there are others, as Ms Erika said in her article yeah. What about the 17 year old boy he died, Hsai Htun his name she said. This is tragic right, it moved me also... he is dead!

As a farang with some thai skills, I just found this site (there are many now) on the web by google 'Nang Noom' in thai or english:

http://www.prachatai.com/05web/th/home/pag...n_Language=Thai

It seems the NGO representing Nang Noom (i try to translate, they are Human Right and Developmental Foundation, and the project is called Making the MIgrant Safety Matter at Worksite), they have teamed up with one organisation, maybe translate as Thai Labour Solidarity Committee, and another main union in Thailand, think maybe can translate as State Enterprise Workers Relation Confederation Committee!! They are meeting with Head of Social Security Office on Tuesday to demand his intervention or something, he is head of the committee to decide Nang Noom case next week. They have signature campaign. The news says two million workers are migrants here, most from Burma, and none of them allowed to access SSO schemes. This is terrible right? Scandellous... How can we support the NGOs with this?? Can we try to get a protest going on this Tuesday in Bangkok at SSO, make some noise outside??? Maybe we can liaise with the NGO, their email address is on the site above... maybe they can do the neat stuff inside, get the SSO to the table, we can do the noisy stuff outside. I am in, we can ask the NGO to get others involved, there are so many of these NGO staff tapping away in offices for good money, I am sure NGO network could mobilise itself too?? Get some posters of Nang Noom, ask the NGO for her picture, and make some noise. We have the power to help her, she cannot, and no doubt this NGO has no money!! Anyone have Thai media contacts? Anyone agree, how can we mobilise?? It is Tuesday they are meeting.... we must get going now... good karma hey?

But actually, lets organise a protest in Chiangmai also?? The site is almost finished, lets get a protest date, get the media, raise the temperature??

Actually, there is kind of a need to split this issue into two here I think also... I say this as actually I was once an employer myself... This case is sad, but wow, there must be many more where this one comes from, have you seen how they work on construction sites, like ballerinas on stilts!!! So we look at things long term also right? Nang Noom is obviously strategic planning from this project to get the headlines... smart folks hey, seems it is working. But must be many more cases. We need to get the hotel, the rotten scoundreals. But also lets support this group to get Nang Noom's case within the Thai Social Security System, so that all of the 2 million migrant workers are 'formally protected' under the Thai law. At the moment SSO are saying 'migrants' are not protected right. Even there is article the National Human Rights Commissioner (in Thai) very angry it seems, saying this is inhumane or something. Many workers (migrant and otherwise) die, become disabled or suffer injury, but their employer very small etc. and so they could never pay compensation. So just because Shangrila is involved in this case, yes it may be easier to get some money from them, but the many other cases is just small contractors... there needs to be an insurance system that is enforced. Lets support this NGO in any way we can.

I once tried to find out for my Burmese workers whether they could get access to SSO scheme, and SSO office said to me no, the Bangkok office. It was construction worker.. I didnt think anything, but now I do. What if my worker had died and this NGO took me on?? Anyone have registered workers, maybe constructon worker or something, maybe can try and register them for this compensation scheme the NGO is talking about?? If refuse, maybe we work with the NGO to make some more noise...

I think actions that this site or others could do in relation to the hotel owners is good yeah? In particular, if anyone is computer skilled, an online petition or some way to automatically petition Shangrila in Chiangmai and at their HQ etc., as well as Thai SSO or the MInistry of Labour?? Would be most welcome... any ideas or anyone with free time to set this up? I do not know how, but I want to help... anyone know other blog sites where we can spread this news?

Please lets do it soon, please let us help Nang Noom. And lets make some noise. I am sorry, I can only speak and attend any protest, my computer skill not very good. But we know Shangrila will open mid December. I can share my ideas...

NEWS NEWS - My friend visited the site in Chiangmai. He said the contractor is called WO-HUP or something, WO HUP is he said thai company, he asked the worker and they said WO HUP, they showed him on paper and sign also...

JUSTICE FOR NANG NOOM right?? JUSTICE JUSTICE JUSTICE!! DOWN WITH SHANGRILA unless they give the money to let this lady get on with her life. She could not even get a wheelchair from her employer or the government, how much does one of these cost??

A concerned blogger.

[lannarebirth]

Is not the general contractor at the Shangri La a Singaporean company? I believe it's the one you mentioned.

Also, anyone else hear a room is being prepared for HM, for a Dec. 15th visit there?

Edited November 3, 2007 by lannarebirth

[JuniorExPat]

Hi folks,

This is an opportunity for Thaivisa as the largest Expat website in the world to use it's infuence to do some good for this lady.

Moderators, can a petition be signed by members acting as one group rather than sending individual emails? Maybe whoever receives the petition, be it the Shangri-La hotel group or the Thai SSO, would be more inclined to do something constructive?

Perhaps this topic can also be posted in General Topics for more TV members to see and act upon?

I hope we can do something as a group to help this lady.

Kind regards,

Hill16

Good idea.

Can someone more clued-up than I, clarify what the best way of going about 'complaining' to Shangri-la about this. Dont wish to send off an email that will get 'lost' or rejected. I also think a petition would gain more weight too. Much harder to ignore or write off.

I disagree - I think emails from individuals, if the volume is great enough, would have a stronger impact in a case like this - we are talking about a business and not a government. Don't hold back from airing your opinion with the Shangri-La just because you are waiting for a petition, take the email addresses, web links and search suggestions from this thread and use them.

JxP

(Having re-read the above I notice the tone may sound harsh, it's not intended to be - I am still ing but genuine in what I have written.)