The Labour Ministry has ordered relevant parties to resolve the unpaid wage issue that has led to hundreds of workers protesting in front of Thai Oil's refinery in Chon Buri since Wednesday.
The protest was organised by employees of Sinopec Engineering Group (Thailand) Co Ltd, a subcontractor of Thai Oil, as they have not received their salaries since May.
The situation is being monitored by officials from several agencies in Chon Buri, including the Department of Provincial Administration office in Sri Racha district, Laem Chabang Police Station, the Labour Protection and Welfare Office, and the Provincial Social Security Office.
According to Labour Ministry spokesman Phumiphat Mueanchan, Sinopec owes their 1,000 employees a total of 134 million baht, having failed to pay their salaries for May and June.
He revealed that Sinopec's failure to pay was due to not receiving payments from its multinational unincorporated joint venture with Petrofac, Saipem, and Samsung (UJV).
The UJV hired Sinopec as a subcontractor to work on Thai Oil's Clean Fuel Project (CFP).
Chon Buri's Labour Protection and Welfare Office has called on Sinopec to pay its employees the overdue salaries soon. The company confirmed it will make a partial payment of 40 million baht on Aug 20.
Mr Phumiphat added that UJV has also been found to owe payments to several other subcontractors, affecting around 8,000 employees.
It was reported that over 500 employees joined the protest on Wednesday.
Department of Labour Protection and Welfare director-general Sopha Kiatniracha said Thai Oil hired several contractors for its CFP project. The UJV is one of the project's main contractors, and Sinopec is the UJV's major subcontractor.
She said Thai Oil has made payments to its main contractors on time, suggesting the problem was caused by UJV's failure to pay its subcontractors on time.
