PHUKET: Police ended a protest by hotel workers who blockaded the Laguna Resorts complex over the weekend.
During the protest against reduced bonus payments, a small group of hotel staff barricaded entrances to the resort, forcing some guests to be located to other hotels.
The Phuket Gazette reported the six Laguna Phuket hotels are now running normal operations.
In a statement, a Laguna spokesperson said, “During the afternoon of Thursday, February 5, an illegal assembly of approximately 150 staff, representing less than five percent of the resort’s total employment of over 4,000, started blocking the roads.
“This action resulted from several Laguna Phuket hotel unions not accepting the year-end bonus awarded to employees.
“The award of a two-week bonus by the company reflected the downturn in the tourism industry in Phuket and the rest of Thailand in the second half of 2008 following the closures of the Phuket and Bangkok airports, as well as the global economic downturn.
“Because the unions did not follow grievance procedures prescribed by Labour Court regulations, and committed potentially criminal offenses by blocking public roads and infringing on private property, Laguna management had no choice but to consider the union disruption as an illegal assembly.”
Management of Laguna Phuket reported the violations to the Phuket police and the provincial government, and requested their urgent assistance in re-establishing access to the blockaded roads for Laguna Phuket staff, resort guests, suppliers, Laguna residents and other users of the roads.
One local resident told the Gazette that she had been outraged by the “drum torture” that had been meted out by the protesters non-stop for two days aboard a “hi-tech, James Bond like” sound truck.
