Thread: Minimum wage to increase by April 2011

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

Labour Minister Chalermchai Srion will tomorrow start discussions with the Federation of Thai Industries and employee associations over the Democrat Party's election promise to raise minimum wages by 25 per cent within two years.

According to Democrat Party spokesman Buranat Samutarak, raising minimum wages is one of two major policies for the upcoming election to help the poor cope with the increasing cost of living. On the other hand, farmers' income will also be raised by the same amount.

"We will launch the policies soon through TV commercials and radio spots until the election takes place," he said.

Uhmmm.... What?



(I think the nugget ferret will have a heart attack when he reads that ).

Must remember to get the "off" switch on that time machine fixed.....

^ I thought it was rather amusing...

^^ Actually. Technically, there is an upcoming election, just a bit far off. I think we should start talking about that now.

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

^Abhisit looks unwell in that photo...

He can't stand the fact that he was run out of office.

Politicians promise many things to get elected and then if they win reality sets in and excuses is then the only thing coming out of their mouths.
The floods,incredible costs to both repair, and then prevent as much destruction next time will see higher wages and the other promises mainly falter.
China will continue to flourish and grow while countries like Thailand and the Philippines price themselves out fo the market.
No question life is hard for those on small salaries,but you can only pay what the economy can afford.

No delay to wage hike - The Nation

Minimum wage

No delay to wage hike

The Nation November 2, 2011 8:05 am

Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Kittirat Na-Ranong today insisted that the government will impose the minimum wage hike in April as scheduled, despite calls from the private sector for a delay in light of severe flooding.

He said that the increased wage will help stimulate the economy, as higher income would push up purchasing power.

Federation of Thai Industries Chairman Payungsak Chartsuthipol retorted that if the policy is imposed without any postponement, the manufacturing sector would revise its plan to set up a fund. Earlier, on expectation for a delay in higher wages, the FTI considered setting up a Bt70 billion fund. The fund will be distributed by companies, which expect to benefit from the government’s policy to cut corporate tax rate from 30 per cent to 23 per cent next year.

^ For sure, a lot of people are going to really need this raise now...

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

I thought it was rather amusing...

Well you are rather an odd fellow and a ex-police chiropodists i believe.

...................................

Thailand

Floods Won’t Delay Minimum Wage Plan: Kittiratt

By Shamim Adam - Nov 14, 2011 12:00 AM GMT+0700

Thailand’s government will proceed with a plan to raise the minimum wage to spur domestic spending even as companies face the cost of rebuilding after floods devastated industrial estates and shuttered businesses.

The government is considering measures to help companies recover from the disaster, including requests for additional tax incentives and a waiver of import tariffs to replace machinery, Deputy Prime Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong said in an interview Nov. 12 in Honolulu, where he is attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. The floods may reduce economic growth by as much as 3 percentage points this year, he said.

“I don’t see the wage hike as a suffering” for companies, Kittiratt said. “It would help increase the purchasing power for the domestic market for their businesses in Thailand. For the government, when these people consume more, we get more tax.”

Thai workers and employers agreed last month to a government proposal to boost the minimum wage, fulfilling a campaign pledge that helped propel Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to the role of the nation’s first female leader. The agreement will increase wage bills for manufacturers that have seen output tumble as floods swamped about 10,000 factories and stopped production at companies including Honda Motor Co.

Wages in Bangkok and six other provinces will rise to 300 baht a day by April 1, Somkiat Chayasriwong, the labor ministry’s permanent secretary, said last month. In the rest of the country, wages will rise an average of 40 percent by April 1 and then to 300 baht ($9.73) per day by 2013, with rates frozen at that level until 2015, he said.

Interest Rates

Thailand’s central bank kept interest rates unchanged at 3.5 percent for the first time this year at its October meeting. It had boosted borrowing costs nine times between July 2010 and August this year, more than any other major Asian economy after India.

Thai rates should be lower than the current level, Kittiratt said, citing Bank Indonesia’s decision to cut borrowing costs as an example. The Indonesian central bank reduced its benchmark rate by half a percentage point this month after a quarter-point reduction in October.

“I have all the reason to believe that the interest rate in Thailand should be coming down too,” Kittiratt said. “Even before the floods, I didn’t believe that the interest rate in Thailand had to be that high. If the interest rate in Thailand were to come down 1 percent in the following year, I’m not going to go against it.”

‘Hold or Cut’

The Bank of Thailand will use monetary policy to help revive the economy from the nation’s worst floods in almost 70 years, which may trim 2011 economic growth to less than 2.6 percent, Deputy Governor Suchada Kirakul said Nov. 8. The central bank’s stance on its key interest rate “should be hold or cut,” Suchada said.

Thailand’s inflation rate held above 4 percent for the seventh straight month in October as the floods destroyed crops and stoked food costs, according to government data.

Yingluck has proposed spending 130 billion baht to help flood victims and rebuild damaged roads, bridges and buildings. She has also set up committees to develop a long-term water management plan.

More than 70 percent of flood victims blame the government for poor preparation and communication, compared with 16 percent who were pleased with the response to the disaster, according to a Suan Dusit poll that surveyed 1,454 people in evacuation centers in Bangkok and its outskirts from Nov. 1 to Nov. 5. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percent.

Flooding this year has affected 64 of Thailand’s 77 provinces, damaging World Heritage-listed temples in Ayutthaya province, destroying 15 percent of the nation’s rice crop and swamping the homes of almost 15 percent of the country’s 67 million people, according to government data.

Although water is receding in northern provinces, floodwaters still threaten areas in Bangkok’s north, west and east, Yingluck said at the weekend.

“Thailand was not well prepared but now Thailand will be very well prepared because we can’t afford to see this repeated again in the following years,” Kittiratt said.

Its a funny thing about natural disasters, you never know which one will come next.

Plan for one, and another turns up.

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

Thailand’s government will proceed with a plan to raise the minimum wage to spur domestic spending even as companies face the cost of rebuilding after floods devastated industrial estates and shuttered businesses.

And so they should. Minimum wages in Thailand are abysmally low compared to both GDP per head, and the cost of living here.

Of course there will be relative winners and losers, but the the flood clean up, replacement of destroyed & damaged items, plus the required infrastructural investment should have a positive effect on Thailand's economic activity, perhaps even sparking a mini boom. It is actually a good time to bring in the minimum wage hike.

'No reason to delay Bt300 wage hike' - The Nation

'No reason to delay Bt300 wage hike'

The Nation November 18, 2011 11:01 am


The launch of the flat Bt300 minimum daily wage "should not" be postponed from January 1 due to the flooding, as a postflood business and economic recovery is anticipated, Labour Ministry permanent secretary Somkiat Chayasriwong said yesterday.

"A survey of the labour and business sectors is underway. Those businesses that are still affected and cannot recover quickly can request assistance from the government," he said, without elaborating on the "assistance".

Somkiat said it would take five months to evaluate the postflood labour supply situation.

While he did not explicitly say that the Bt300 minimum wage would take effect without conditions on January 1, he said there had not been any change to the existing agreement mandating that the pay rise take effect on that date.

The ministry has taken steps to help floodaffected workers, including a plan to fill 130,000 job vacancies and arranging 10day skillstraining sessions paying a Bt120 daily allowance. It was expected to see 15,000 applicants but could accommodate another 20,000.

Shortterm, 20day contracts paying Bt150 a day to around 23,000 workers had also been arranged, he added.

The House committee on social welfare yesterday held a joint meeting with Labour Minister Phadermchai Sasomsap to discuss measures to help floodaffected workers and minimise the chance of massive layoffs. Phadermchai said a fund will be set up soon to help employers pay Bt2,000 to workers for three months.

Fewer workers had been laid off than expected - 4,500 - from 15 companies in three provinces including hardhit Ayutthaya, he said.

Firms warn Thai gov't against going ahead with wage hike

Firms warn Thai gov't against going ahead with wage hike

Petchanet Pratruangkrai
The Nation (Thailand)
Publication Date : 23-11-2011

Some industrial enterprises in Thailand, mainly in electronics and garments, have threatened that investment in their industries will move overseas soon, after their factories were devastated by floods and they face higher labour costs next year.

At a meeting of 169 trade associations with Thailand's Commerce Ministry's Department of Export Promotion, Business Development Department and Intellectual Property Department seeking measures for flood relief, private enterprises voiced strong concern that an increase in the daily minimum wage to 300 baht (US$10) would hold back industries already reeling from the flood disaster.

Most called on the Thai government to delay its promised wage-hike policies to help ease the impact on manufacturers from the floods. They shared the view that the government's financial assistance and soft loans would not be enough for their companies' rehabilitation if they are offset by higher labour costs.

Chiengchuang Kalayanamitr, chairman of the board of directors and owner of Maxon Systems (Thailand), said he would move his factory to Cambodia because the Thai government has failed to protect industries in many estates.

Maxon is one of the world's leading manufacturers of portable FM radios and data modules. One of the Thai unit's three factories, in Rojana Industrial Estate in central Thailland's Ayutthaya, was seriously hit by the flood. This plant represents an investment of 2 billion baht (US$64 million) to 3 billion baht (US$96 million).

Chiengchuang added that the government's plan to increase labourers' wages without listening to the private sector's views on this issue would worsen investor confidence in Thailand.

Sukij Kongpiyacharn, president of the Thai Garment Manufacturers Association, said new investment in the garment industry would move to other countries in Asean that have lower risk from government policies. The shortage of labour due to the floods will also cause problems for the garment industry in the future, he said.

Flat growth

Because of the flood impact, garment exports are expected to see flat growth this year. He claimed that many small and medium-sized enterprises that were hit by floods would suffer more from higher labour costs.

Jirabul Vitayasingh, secretary-general of the Lifestyle Products Association, said the government should urgently provide funds to remedy the impact to enterprises of the flood disaster, and launch policies to boost investor confidence.

The Thai National Shippers Council has also called on the government to delay the increase in minimum wages for a year or two and exempt the cost of utilities for about three months to help affected enterprises.

The ministry reported that about 350,000 enterprises in 31 provinces, or 70 per cent of the enterprises in the Kingdom, were affected by this year's floods.

Bangkok Post : Kittiratt: B300 daily wage plan still on

Kittiratt: B300 daily wage plan still on

• Published: 11/12/2011 at 04:32 PM
• Online news:

The government's plan to increase the labour minimum wage to 300 baht per day from April 1 next year will still be carried out despite the flood which has severely affected the economy and the value-added tax (VAT) will not be increased from the current rate of 7 per cent, Deputy Prime Minister Kittirat Na Ranong said on Sunday.

Mr Kittiratt said this after presiding a ceremony to open the 29th seminar of representatives of chambers of commerce from throughout the country in Rayong province.

He said that despite the flood situation, the increase in the country's exports during the first eight months was as high as 24 per cent, and the overall increase in export this year was believed to be 15 per cent.

Mr Kittiratt said that because of this he believed the private sector would be able to cope with the government's plan to increase the labour minimum wage to 300 baht per day from April 1 next year.

The government also has no plan to increase the VAT from the current rate of 7 per cent, he said.

^this is not news. It's been the position for about two weeks now - reported earlier (April to begin).

Thai-ASEAN News Network

Industry Council against Minimum Wage Hike

UPDATE : 19 December 2011

The Federation of Thai Industries is going to sue the government in the Administrative Court against its policy to increase the daily minimum wage to 300 baht.

Federation of Thai Industries or FTI Vice Chairman Thaveekij Chaturacharoenkhun said the FTI board is seeking a temporary injunction from the Administrative Court to delay the government's planned daily minimum wage hike to 300 baht.


The FTI said that the government's attempt to raise the minimum wage would adversely affect investment as well as employment in both the short and long terms.

The FTI will file the suit early next year.

The government's planned wage hike will come into effect in seven provinces on April 1 next year before being launched nationwide by April 2013.

Thaveekij added that the risk factors to investment next year include fears about floods, the minimum wage hike and a political stalemate.

He said the private sector has lost confidence in the government due to the flood mismanagement and lack of precautionary measures against flooding.

In addition, an increase in the minimum wage and political conflicts would drive investors to relocate to neighboring countries, thus contributing to increasing unemployment in Thailand.

Originally Posted by [URL="http://www.tannetwork.tv/tan/ViewData.aspx?DataID=1050816

Thai-ASEAN News Network[/URL]"]

sue the government in the Administrative Court against its policy

file under only in Thailand ...................

Thai-ASEAN News Network

Govt Urged to Reconsider Minimum Wage Hike Policy

UPDATE : 20 December 2011

The Democrat Party spokesperson urged the government to reconsider the minimum wage hike policy, saying it will severely affect businesses.

Democrat Party spokesperson Chavanond Intarakomalyasut yesterday gave an interview concerning the Federation of Thai Industries, or FTI's, seeking a temporary injunction from the Administrative Court to delay the government's planned hike in the daily minimum wage to 300 baht.

The FTI said that the government's attempt to increase the minimum wage would adversely affect investment as well as employment.


Chavanond added that the conflict reflects a lack of coordination between the state and the business sector.

The Democrat spokesperson blasted at the government for aiming to fulfill the promises it made during the election campaign without considering the negative consequences it will have on businesses once the policy goes into effect.

He pointed out that the policy would contribute to increasing unemployment in the country and urged the government to consider the benefits to both employers and employees.

^ Oh good lord.

One of the few things Pheu Thai are doing that *might* actually benefit the normal people of Thailand and the Democrats come out to oppose it.

Uber fail.