Call for new body to set wages

An independent body to calculate minimum daily wage should be set up to replace the current system under the national Wage Tripartite Committee, whose government representatives have regularly sided with employers, a Bangkok seminar on subject was told yesterday.

Labour activist Sakdina Chatkul na Ayutthaya said labourers' representatives had regulary been at disadvantage under the WTC mechanism, because the wages were calculated and approved based on favouritism and negotigations between authorities and employers, not on fair criteria relying on economic factors.

"Labourers who make up a vast majority in the Thai society have never had leverage power in the body which designate the minimum income for them. The new body to be set up will serve as a tool to ensure better welfare and more pay, and fairness in overall in their lives," he added.

"The hike in wage should be increased through a new perspective which sees employeremployee relations, not as master and servant, the way it has been," he said.

According to figures by the Labour Ministry's own tripatite panel, inflation had increased by 2.76 per cent each year in the past decade while the wage was increased by 2.57 per cent.

A deputy head of the The Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), Thaweekij Jatujaroenkhun, as a speaker in the seminar, said a government fund should be set up to support employers at the small and medium levels as well. He said SME businesses would be hardest affected by the Bt300 wage and the decrease of valueadded tax announced by the incoming government.

The chief of the shoemaking sector under the FTI, Thamrong Thitiprasert, said shoemakers would be most affected, because manpower was needed in most businesses, around 2,000 in the SME level compared to only 30 largescale makers, who rely mostly on machinery.

A senior economist at Tisco Securities, Kamphol Adireksombat, said the flat Bt300 rate would cause inflation and another hike would be needed soon afterwards because of much higher costs of living. He agreed with a proposal that career or skill trainings should be required of workers who demanded Bt300 from their employers.

Labour leader Chalee Loisoong called on government subsidy for both workers, in the flat Bt300 daily wage, and a fund for employers after the hike was in effect.

He said a statistics of SMEs to be affected by the Bt300 should be made available soon so that the government could decide on what measures to be taken and seeking extra money to fund those affected SMEs.