BANGKOK—Thai state unions voted on Tuesday to join a long-running anti-government rally but said they would only strike if force was used to break up the protest, a thorn in the side of the nearly five-month-old coalition.
The largely symbolic support from the unions, who have 200,000 members, is another a blow to an administration forced to focus much of its energy on countering the demonstration at a time of stagnating growth and soaring inflation.
The union decision caused a slight fall on Bangkok's main stock index, which has lost more than 11 percent since the protest started on May 25 due to concerns among investors about everything from policy paralysis to a military coup.
Within minutes of the union leaders' meeting, government spokesman Wichianchot Sukchotrat shot back, saying action would be taken against anybody who broke the law.
"We have drawn a line for them to walk along. If they go beyond that, causing trouble to the people, the government will not yield. We stand ready to take legal action against them," he told reporters after a weekly cabinet meeting.
The union backing for the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) makes it harder for the government to deal with the group, the same motley collection of businessmen, academics and royalists who targeted Thaksin Shinawatra in 2005, leading to his removal in a coup a year later.
With the election in December of an avowedly pro-Thaksin government, it was only a matter of time before the PAD renewed its crusade, which it is now painting as a life-and-death struggle between monarchists and republicans.
The daily rallies vary in size from a few hundred to several thousand people.
The unions' entry into the fray is unsurprising given the anger Thaksin generated with plans to privatise some of Thailand's most bloated state-run firms, such as electricity and water utilities.
The plans were shelved after running into trouble in the courts and on the streets.
"This government has no more legitimacy to run the country," Sawit Kaewvan, head of an umbrella group of unions representing workers at 43 state firms, told reporters after the vote.
However, he said further action, such as cutting off water and power to government offices, would only follow if force was used to break up the PAD protest stage, which has been blocking traffic since it started on May 25.
Firebrand Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej said last month he would send in soldiers and police to smash the rally but backed off when the police and military made it clear they had no stomach for a fight.
Even though Samak's People Power Party came a comfortable first in the December election, its enemies say it is illegitimate since, by Samak's own admission, it is a proxy for Thaksin, who was banned from politics after the coup.
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