Thai government insisted yesterday it would
roll out the 300 baht (US$9.7) daily minimum wage to the remaining 70 provinces
as scheduled following its launch in seven provinces including Bangkok on April
7, despite employers' complaints and threats of non-compliance.
In her
speech at the main May Day event at the Royal Plaza, Prime Minister Yingluck
Shinawatra said the government would meet the election promise of a 300 baht
wage across the country by January next year, and vowed to keep prices of
commodities as low as possible to ease the financial burden on low-income
earners.
Labour
Minister Phadermchai Sasomsap said the increasing price of goods
"corresponded with normal marketing conditions", but called on
producers not to raise prices further. He said that employees entitled to but
still not receiving the 300 baht daily minimum could submit complaints to the
ministry, adding that no petition had been lodged so far.
Citing
concerns over higher costs and requests by employers to delay the launch date
for nationwide payment of 300 baht to 2015, he said no business owners had
submitted reports on "clear impacts" to their ventures resulting from
the 300 baht wage, and that the launch date of next January had been declared
in law and must be abided by.
The
Tripartite Wage Committee, chaired by Somkiat Chayasriwong, said the launch
date could not be changed, but a petition to be submitted by employers'
representatives in today's meeting would be accepted. "It is their right
to create a petition but the final decision rests on the entire Committee's
agreement," he said.
Chaiyaphorn
Janthana, chairman of the Council of Employees of Independent Labour of
Thailand, said his group was opposed to a delay in the roll-out of the 300 baht
minimum wage, as the price of everyday goods had soared and employees' lives
were already difficult.
Another
labour leader, Chalee Loisung, chairman of the Thai Labour Reconciliation
Committee, called on the government to work on cutting the cost of living by
reducing the price of petrol and cooking gas along with tariffs for public
transport.
He also
said that a fair, across-the-board wage scale must be worked out to create
annual pay raises, while parliament should accept a bill on state welfare and
social security in the people's name and pass it into a law.
News
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