Push for minimum wage to be doubled

A proposal to more than double the minimum daily wage - from Bt206 to Bt421 - was accepted yesterday by the Labour Ministry and will be further considered by the Finance Ministry.

The rate is even higher than an earlier proposal to lift the minimum wage to Bt250, which the government has been considering approving.

The Thai Labour Solidarity Committee also called on the government yesterday to ratify an International Labour Organisation accord protecting labourers joining labour unions at their workplaces.

TLSC head Wilaiwan sae-Tia said employers in Thailand still gave labourers wanting to join unions harder work or abused them, to force them to resign.

The group also called for the Social Security Office to be set up as an independent agency, to ensure it was fully efficient and transparent. She said the office had operated for 20 years and now oversaw a huge fund but it still lacked these qualities.

Labour Minister Chalermchai Sri-on accepted the three proposals. He said the wage request could be passed to the Finance Ministry and a decision on whether to approve it or not would rest with the national Wage Tripartite Committee.

In regard to workers being able to join workplace unions, the issue would be sent to the Cabinet for approval, and then to Parliament for a final vote.

On the SSO issue, Chalermchai said businesses with 200 to 1,000 workers could operate their own social security systems if they got permission from the SSO.