TPBS not obliged to take on TITV staff

The Public Relations De-partment (PRD), which was in charge of TITV, announced

yesterday that all 835 TITV employees had automatically lost their employment status when the Thai Public Broadcasting Service Act was promulgated on January 14.

"So, there's no legal obligation for TPBS to hire them," Thana Tuaprakhon said in his capacity as secretary to PRD chief Pramoj Rathavinij.

Thana said the PRD would pay all these employees up till January 14, the last day they came to work.

TITV has been off the air since January 15 to pave way for the establishment of Thailand's first public television station, which will be operated by TPBS.

Thana said the PRD clearly stated in the work contracts sent to TITV employees their employment would expire when the Thai Public Broad-casting Service was kicked off.

"We have sent these contracts to all 835 employees who confirmed before the end of December that they wanted to renew their employment contract," Thana said.

He pointed out that the employees' refusal to sign the contracts would only mean that their employment ended on December 31.

At the same press conference, TPBS acting director Thepchai Yong said the heads of engineering, TV programming, production, human-resources management, finance and news from TITV would be invited to take temporary employment contracts from TPBS.

In its first phase of recruitment, TPBS will hire employees on a three-month basis only. The employment contracts from the first phase will last from February 1 to April 30.

"We want experienced people because we have to begin our broadcast service on February 1," Thepchai said.

In the second phase of recruitment, TPBS will sign up permanent employees - all of whom would be subject to performance evaluation every six months.

Capable temporary employees had a good chance of becoming permanent employees at TPBS. As many as 3,322 people applied for jobs at TPBS during the application period last week.

Atcha Suwanpakpraek, the former news director at TITV, said goodbye to TITV workers yesterday as his eyes welled with tears. He announced a plan to set up a 'Friends of iTV Club' to help former staff from the TV station to find work. TITV was previously known as iTV. Atcha decided not seek a job at TPBS.

Meanwhile, Thai Labour Solidarity Committee President Wilaiwan sae Tia asked TPBS yesterday to allocate time slots for the more than 35.5 million labourers in the country.

"Until now, no TV stations have truly portrayed the problems labourers face. Many workers have been exploited," Wilaiwan said.

She offered to help produce TV programmes or documentaries about labour issues for TPBS.

The Nation