Thai GM Workers End Strike

Fortunate day for General Motors in Thailand where hundreds of workers who went on strike 10 days ago decided to end protests and return to work. Workers in southeast Rayong province forces General Motors to suspend production at the plant, which was building pickup trucks and passenger cars.

The two sides "achieved amicable solutions resulting in an agreement that is mutually beneficial with the shared objective of ensuring continued growth and sustainability of GM and the Chevrolet brand in Thailand and around the region," General Motors said in a statement according to just-auto.com.

"I would especially like to commend the workers' union of GM for conducting themselves in a peaceful and orderly way throughout the process," said GM Thai president Steve Carlisle in the statement.

According to various reports on the subject, the riot costed GM Thailand approximately $6 million a day, as the factory is normally building 160 pickup trucks each day. Negotiations continued last week but the two sides failed to come to a conclusion. Union demands included incentive-based payments, support for union activities and for GM to pay for the damages caused by the strike.

According to the aforementioned source, the plant currently employs 1,700 people, with those who refused to join the protest being given paid holidays during the dispute. The factory is also building a number of other cars beside those belonging to General Motors, including Isuzu and Alfa Romeo vehicles. It started operations in 1999 and, with the help of an investment of $750 million, started building small pickups exported to various countries.