SOI CHULALONGKORN 9, PATHUM WAN — After going unpaid and running out of money, Chanapa Panich ate the morning glory growing at her construction site.

“It was those morning glories that sustained my life,” the 55-year-old construction worker told Soiciety in a phone interview.

Now, a small stall beside Chao Mae Thapthim Saphan Lueang Shrine sells pomegranate tea named after the plant. Proceeds from each 50-baht cup support Chanapa and other workers who also say they went unpaid for a year. 

The stall, called Morning Glory Collective, is run by Chulalongkorn University students.

It sits on the university land, past a construction gate made of corrugated zinc sheets and down a 60-meter, lantern-strung path. Block 33’s stalled 50-story tower rises beyond it.

Chanapa took her case to Parliament, alleging Block 33’s main contractor, Power Line Engineering Public Co. Ltd., withheld a year of wages. The company later acknowledged owing 26.9 million baht to its employees across multiple projects.

Organizers know a tea stall can’t make workers whole. They view the collective as a way to tie the labor dispute to the neighborhood’s broader development battles.

Chanapa moved to Bangkok from Phitsanulok in 2021 to save for her daughter’s college education. She began working at Block 33 that year and received regular pay until June 2025, she said.

“They didn’t pay us, but we kept working,” Chanapa said.

At one point, Chanapa said she had to borrow from her sister to pay her son’s tuition. After she received a 45,000-baht payment from PLE following her parliamentary petition, she repaid the loan.

Jirapreeya Saeboo, the collective’s coordinator and the managing editor of Sam Yan Press, learned of the unpaid wages through the shrine keeper who introduced her to Chanapa.

Chanapa had gone three months without pay at the time. Jirapreeya spent months urging her to file a formal complaint, but Chanapa hesitated.

“I was afraid they would find some ways to get back at us,” Chanapa said. “They have money. I didn’t know what they might do.”

Anticipating retaliation, Jirapreeya helped launch the Morning Glory Collective as a safety net for Chanapa and others. The stall opened in June.

Organizers turned to CiliC Tea, a Chamchuri Square cafe. Its owner developed a recipe combining tea, pomegranate juice and cheese foam, naming it Tub Tim Tea in a nod to the shrine’s full name.

Chanapa petitioned the House of Representatives’ Labor Committee June 18, alleging PLE owed roughly 20 workers between 20,000 and 50,000 baht each.

The petition prompted a June 24 hearing that PLE didn’t attend. At the hearing, a Chulalongkorn representative testified the university was unaware of any unpaid-wage complaints until it received the committee’s letter.

In a letter to the Stock Exchange of Thailand that week, PLE characterized the Block 33 dispute as an isolated incident, stating it had “investigated the matter and resolved it by fully compensating the complainant.”

Labor Committee records, however, show PLE has faced other wage disputes.

In April 2026, PLE told the Bangkok Employment Office that it owed about 1.4 million baht in wages to workers with disabilities dating back to September 2025.

The Labor Protection and Welfare Department reported an investigation following a 2025 PLE worker protest found roughly 1.6 million baht in unpaid wages owed to 66 employees, plus an unspecified amount owed to 20 head-office employees.

The company didn’t respond to an Aug. 13 emailed request for comment from Soiciety.

In an Aug. 17 letter to the SET, PLE admitted it owed 26.9 million baht in unpaid wages across multiple projects. The company promised further clarification and preventative measures after verifying all the information.

“The company has created a working group with the Labor Ministry to address this issue, with a meeting to discuss collaborative approaches set for Aug. 28, 2026,” its statement said.

The company’s projects include a Suvarnabhumi International Airport satellite building, Metropolitan Electricity Authority’s Khlong Toei headquarters, Chamchuri Square Complex, One Bangkok and NBTC headquarters.

Selling roughly 30 cups a day, the Morning Glory Collective brings in about 1,500 baht — not enough to cover the owed wage, organizers admitted.

“We didn’t expect to make a lot of money,” Jirapreeya said, noting the funds are held in a dedicated bank account for distribution. “It was a collective effort to help the aunties.”

She sees the shrine as a symbol of what she called the “right to the city” campaign, which opposes the university’s perceived role as a land developer.

The university owns land where former neighborhood landmarks stood, including Sam Yan Market — replaced by Samyan Mitrtown — and Scala Theater, demolished ahead of a planned Central Pattana development.

The university’s property management wing previously sought to relocate the shrine, evict its caretaker and sue the caretaker for 122 million baht in damages for refusing to move.

Activists took the project to the Central Administrative Court, alleging its building permit was issued illegally. While the court hasn’t issued an injunction, construction is currently halted, and the university refunded deposits to bookers.

The wage dispute is an extension of that same fight, Jirapreeya said.

“It’s political activism in itself,” said Jirapreeya, who graduated from Chulalongkorn in 2023.

Morning Glory Collective also doubles as an informal classroom. Sam Yan Press offers first-year students at Chulalongkorn an internship selling the drink for 400 baht a day.

Sittipon Klyapluemrak, a second-year political science student, has worked shifts at the stall since it opened. He knew little about the workers’ situation until a friend invited him to the June petition filing.

“When I actually talked to ‘Auntie Pa,’ I just felt that I needed to do something,” Sittipon said. “Even if the shop generates little profit, it still works as a campaign to express solidarity with the workers and the community.”

Working alongside shrine regulars, Sittipon said he heard stories he wouldn’t have encountered otherwise, like what the Rama Sam Yan Theater used to be and what lottery vendors did before selling tickets.

“I felt that I was one of the Sam Yan people, not just a student who came in passing,” he said.

Kanokon Eiamaorn, a first-year political science student, worked her first full shift the day Soiciety visited. She said she found herself explaining the shrine’s predicament to first-time visitors unaware of the construction threat. 

“If more people come to worship here, this place can stay with us longer,” Kanokon said.

Starting at 10 a.m., she doubted anyone would buy early morning tea. Sales picked up early afternoon, and she sold 27 cups by the end of her shift at 6 p.m.

Asked when she felt the collective made an impact, Jirapreeya pointed to Chanapa’s courage to speak out, knowing the stall provides a safety net.

Chanapa said the solidarity means more than the money.

“I’m proud of them,” she said of the stall’s organizers. “They’re like my children, my grandchildren. I actually think like that.”

Now working a construction job at Kasetsart University, Chanapa said she’s glad the public is learning about the plight of construction workers like her.

“People will know what it means to have nothing,” she said. “I’ve lived through it, how hard it is, how much it wears you down, not having money.”

💬 First: Soiciety has a comment feature that I think is underused. Let’s get that going. Here’s a prompt: We pass construction sites in Bangkok every day. How has this story changed the way you see those sites and the workers behind the fences? Drop a comment here.

🙌 Second: This kind of reporting — tracking a wage dispute through Parliament records, company filings and a shrine-side tea stall — takes time. It’s readers like you who make it possible.