Wage hike demanded, help for self employed

About 1,000 workers will rally in front of the Labour Ministry on Thursday to press for a 10 baht rise in the minimum daily wage, labour leader Manas Kosol said on Wednesday.

Mr Manas, president of the Labour Development Council of Thailand, said the rally was scheduled for tomorrow because the tripartite Central Wage Committee would meet then to consider the new minimum wage for 2011.

Although most workers wanted the new minimum wage to go up to 250 baht per day, as favoured by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, or even 421 baht per day as demanded by certain groups of workers, these figures were unlikely to be possible.

The workers should be satisfied a 10 baht rise, which was more reasonable, he said.

Sunan Pothong, chairman of a technical subcommittee of the Central Wage Committee responsible for proposing a suitable wage rise, said his panel would propose an increase which was likely to satisfy the LDCT, but groups who demanded as much as 421 baht per day would be disappointed.

He declined to reveal the size of the increase to be proposed to the committee tomorrow.

On Tuesday, the Thai Labour Reconciliation Committee (TLRC) issued a statement demanding a 421 baht miminum wage.

The committee said if this was not possible, then Mr Abhisit's proposal of a 250 baht per day minimum wage nationwide would be acceptable. An increase of 10 baht per day would not be enough to ensure workers quality of life.

The current minimum wage is 206 baht per day for Bangkok and surrounding provinces and slightly lower in other provinces.

Meanwhile, the Informal Economy Committee proposed six measures to ease the problems of people working in the informal, or undergound, economy to the government.

Committee chairman Sungsidh Piriyarangsan said the measures cover motorcycle taxi drivers, taxi drivers, street hawkers and night workers, and the provision of social security benefits for workers in the informal economy and their access to loans from financial institutions.

Mr Sungsidh said the first proposal would legalise illegal motorcycle taxi drivers by having them all wear vests with the same number as their motorcycle registration plate. He said 30 to 40 per cent of motorcycle taxi operators are illegal.

The second measure is to act against state officials who collected bribes from taxi drivers in areas such as bus terminals, airports and tourist destinations. This would cut each cab driver's costs by about 1,000 baht a month.

Daily taxi rental charges would be reduced for drivers who wanted to purchase new cars and were given loans by certain financial institutions.

The daily rental would be reduced from 550-800 baht to 400-500 bah, the committee chairman said.

"Taxi drivers with at least 10 years tenure from the date of the issue of the cab licence would be able to make a five per cent down payment when buying a new car," he said.

The third measure was to clearly designate areas for street hawkers in Bangkok, to make it easier for pedestrians.

Street vendors would be charged according to the earning potential of each location. Space on Khao San road would be more expensive than other locations, he said.

The fourth proposal would beef up security for night workers, especially in areas where the crime rate has been high in the past three years.

"The goal is to reduce the crime rate in risk areas by 30 per cent in three months," Mr Sungsidh said.

It was also proposed to allow state banks to grant emergency loans to people working in the informal economy, to encourage them not to borrow money from loan sharks.

The final proposal was to provide a social security package for workers in the informal economy.

"The current social security system is suited for people with stable incomes, but workers in the informal economy do not have a stable income.

"If the payment is fixed at 280 baht a month the workers would complain that it is too expensive, but if given a choice of cover, from 100 to 200 baht, they could afford it," he said.