Thai Oil Public Company Ltd denies agreeing to issue a payment of 567 million baht to help settle outstanding wages owed to workers by subcontractors.
The unpaid wages are reportedly owed by the Unincorporated Joint Venture (UJV) consortium, a subcontractor of Thai Oil.
The consortium, made up of Petrofac South East Asia Pte Ltd, Saipem Singapore Pte Ltd and Samsung E&A (Thailand) Co Ltd, was hired by Thai Oil to build its Clean Fuel Project (CFP).
More than 8,000 workers are employed by three firms -- One Turn Ten Co Ltd, EMCO LTD Co Ltd and Thai Fong Engineering and Construction Co Ltd -- which work under Sinopec, which is, in turn, the subcontractor of UJV. The workers include Vietnamese nationals.
It was reported that the problem of overdue wages went unresolved for months. The subcontracting firms told the workers no money was forthcoming from UJV despite Thai Oil maintaining it made payments to the consortium on time.
The problem triggered a protest by disgruntled workers in April, prompting labour authorities to mediate the dispute. Labour Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said officials from the Chon Buri Provincial Office for Labour Welfare and Protection have been negotiating between workers and employers since July 24.
Some workers filed a formal complaint against their employers with the office.
Previously, negotiations resulted in an unsatisfactory agreement in which the employees were offered partial payments of 2,000-3,000 baht each, which they deemed insufficient to cover their daily living costs.
The issue has threatened to intensify the workers' protest held from July 24-26 and another two-day protest that began on Wednesday outside the Thai Oil refinery plant in Sri Racha district of Chon Buri.
Sopha Kiatniracha, director-general of the Department of Labour Protection and Welfare (DLPW), along with executives and officials, would talk with Thai Oil and staff to seek a solution, Mr Phiphat said.
Ms Sopha said on Tuesday that Thai Oil agreed to advance a payment valued at 567 million baht to resolve the overdue wages issue by next month. But Thai Oil on Wednesday denied the claim.
The company said it never entered into an agreement to make any advance payment, as the responsibility to meet the payment obligation rests with the UJV and the subcontractors. Thai Oil added it has met all of its payment obligations with UJV for the engineering work, procurement and construction.
