Wage fund planned to aid SMEs: Jaruphong

Wage fund planned to aid SMEs: Jaruphong

By THE NATION
Published on July 13, 2011


The proposed Bt300 minimum daily wage will not cripple small and medium-sized enterprises as feared by employers and the public, because a fund will be initiated to provide SMEs with interest-free loans, Pheu Thai Party secretary-general Jaruphong Ruengsuwan said yesterday.

A survey will be soon be launched to find out how many SMEs pay their workers less than Bt300 and how much money would be needed to support them, Jaruphong said.

The Bt300 wage was one of Pheu Thai's major campaign promises during the election that it ultimately won, but businesses and academics have warned that it is impractical and unproductive for the entire economic system.

Although former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the de facto Pheu Thai leader, recently said the Bt300 wage would be paid only in Bangkok and not elsewhere, Jaruphong said only that the flat-rate policy would become "clearer" once the new Cabinet was set up.

Chalee Loisoong, a labour leader, said Pheu Thai would be a liar if the Bt300 wage could not be enforced uniformly across the country as its candidates had boasted during their election stumps.

The party also guaranteed a minimum entry-level salary of Bt15,000 a month for new university graduates.

The increases in the minimum daily wage agreed upon by the Tripartite Wage Committee for 35 provinces, ranging from Bt2 to Bt28, should also be immediately approved before the Bt300 wage goes into effect next year, Chalee said.

"Workers would all starve if they had to wait for the hike to Bt300 in January."