3,000 rally against privatization

3,000 rally against privatization

BANGKOK (AFP): Three thousand employees of the Electricity
Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) rallied at Government
House yesterday to protest plans by the cabinet to privatize the
state agency.

"We don't want the cabinet to cancel the privatization of EGAT
but we want it to suspend (the action) until we are sure that it
will not increase the price of electricity," said Thammayouph
Southivavichai, president of the EGAT labor union.

The union would propose to the government that a plan to sell
two of the agency's power plants be suspended and that a joint
committee be set up to study the potential effects of the plan on
electricity prices, he said.

Other proposals would reject plans to limit EGAT's foreign
borrowing and to block the agency from building a new power plant
for five years.

Prime Minister's Office Minister Rakkait Sukthana said he
planned to propose to the cabinet that the privatization go ahead
under provisions agreed to in principle by the EGAT employees'
association.