Thailand - Thai firms go to court against govt wage order

About 42 companies from various industries have lodged a complaint with the Central Administrative Court over an official order requiring employers to raise their daily minimum wages.

The move is a lastditch attempt by 42 Thai and Japanese firms to block the big pay hike, which they believe the government has pushed for without any appropriate reason.

Their petition may affect more than 5.4 million workers who are hoping to get the higher pay from next month, according to Labour Ministry permanent secretary Somkiat Chayasriwong.

"They have claimed the order issued by the Central Wage Committee [CWC] is illegal," Somkiat said, in his capacity as the CWC chairman. "But I have already explained to the court that we have taken all relevant factors into account."

According to him, the CWC is a tripartite panel. Excluding its chairman, the panel has five representatives from employers, five representatives from employees, and four from government agencies.

"The 14 CWC members voted unanimously to raise the daily minimum wage across the country by 40 per cent," Somkiat said.

Many employers suspect that the decision came under government pressure as the ruling Pheu Thai Party made it an election policy to raise the daily minimum wage to 300 baht (US$9.78) .

With the 40percent pay hike scheduled to take effect from April 1, workers in Bangkok, Phuket, Samut Prakan, Samut Sakhon, Pathum Thani, Nakhon Pathom and Nonthaburi will earn at least 300 baht a day.

Kamol Trevibul, deputy secretarygeneral of the Electrical, Electronics and Allied Industries club under the Federation of Thai Industries, said that the industries needed a clarification from the government on the need for increasing the daily wage to 300 baht per day , as this policy was not based on fair reasoning.

"The unreasonable increase in minimum wage will prompt both foreign investors and local enterprises to relocate to other countries. Investors will have low confidence to do businesses in the country as the government has full authority to raise the wage without discussing with involved parties," Kamol said.

The petitioners against the wage hike come from various industries. Most are electronics and electricalappliances makers, who employ more than 700,000 workers in seven provinces.

Among them are Murata Electronics (Thailand), Star Polymer Corporation, L&E Manufacturing Co, Kulthorn Kirby, Kulthorn Metal Products, Kulthorn Steel, Nippon Super Precision, Racha Chu Rot and Vanda Preserved Food.

Enterprises are worried that they would face huge losses since labours efficiency have not been developed in accordance with the payment.

If the government increases the daily minimum wage in keeping with its electioncampaign pledge, Thai labour costs would soon soar, Kamol said.

"The daily minimum wage may increase to 500 baht (US$16.3) because political parties will compete with each other to promise higher wages during election campaigns," he commented.

Somkiat yesterday told the Central Administrative Court that the government policy was just a factor in the decision to order a significant pay hike.

"The CWC has also considered cost of living, economic conditions, prices of consumer goods and the rate of inflation," he said.

Thai Labour Solidarity Committee chairman Chalee Loysoong said he disagreed with the employers' petition to the Central Administrative Court.

"Workers are now struggling hard with the rising cost of living," he said.

He said if the Central Administrative Court issued an injunction putting the wage hike on hold, workers would appeal against the injunction.

If necessary, workers would also stage rallies to pressure the government to keep its promise on the 300 baht minimum daily wage, Chalee said.

Petchanet Pratruangkrai and Thanongsak muennoo

The Nation

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