Allowance proposed for MEA workers

The Interior Ministry will put a proposal to Cabinet next week for Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA) employees with a salary less than Bt50,000 to get a living allowance of Bt2,000 a month for one year.

After a meeting with MEA worker representatives yesterday, Deputy Minister Boonjong Wongtrairat, who oversees the state enterprise, said they had agreed that 6,071 MEA employees eligible to receive the allowance should get it for one year, starting from the date that Cabinet approves such a deal.

The move would cost about Bt12 million a month.

He said the scheme would not cause MEA service users to suffer higher power bills, because the money would come from MEA profits.

Asked if this case would lead to the other 55 state enterprises demanding similar allowances, he said they might do so but it depended on the profits of each state enterprise.

Boonjong revealed that the meeting initially considered helping MEA workers receiving less than Bt15,000, but that would have meant many fewer beneficiaries.

Union president Pian Yongnoo said they were content with the agreement as such a living cost allowance was necessary.

He claimed that outsiders' views of MEA workers as highly-paid employees came because people looked at the top workers.

He said he worked for the MEA for 31 years and now earned Bt29,000 - with the economic crisis adding to his already heavy financial burden of a mortgage and high living costs.

Pian said if Cabinet rejected the allowance, ministers must explain the reasons clearly.

On Tuesday, the Cabinet rejected a proposal for a temporary Bt2,000 living cost allowance per month to employees of MEA and the Metropolitan Waterworks Authority, asking the agencies to review it before resubmitting it.

Cabinet said MEA workers already earned a high salary, at an average of Bt40,000 per person, and the proposal was inappropriate.

If it had been approved for the two organisations, other state enterprises would want similar deals.