11,000 jobless as 39 auto-parts firms shut

Thirty-nine auto-parts manufacturers in deluged industrial estates have announced they have closed down, leaving 10,957 workers jobless, Labour Minister Padermchai Sasomsap says.

Most of the laid-off workers were migrants who had skills in the auto-making and electronic parts industries, he said yesterday.

However, they would get compensation and other benefits, while the ministry has more than 100,000 jobs available for them, said Mr Padermchai.

The ministry also had an agreement with flood-affected industrial plants that they must not lay off workers if they want to be eligible for assistance from the government, he said.

Many manufacturers had agreed to resume operations and continue hiring their workers, he said.

"What I am concerned about now is a possible labour shortage problem. This is because some workers might not return to work due to concerns the factories might be flooded and closed again," said the minister.

The ministry is also looking for means to help workers who have become debt-ridden as a result of the floods.

The labour representatives sitting in the ministry's panel on flood relief yesterday urged labour officials to come up with ways to help workers who were unable to get to their workplaces during the floods or whose workplaces were inundated. Consequently, they were not paid all or part of their salaries and became unable to repay debts, such as to credit card companies.

The panel also agreed to study the possibility of setting up an emergency fund to provide assistance to workers who might become jobless as a result of the flood crisis.

"About 90% of employees in the three flood-affected industrial estates in Ayutthaya have returned to work and some 10,957 people have been laid off," Minister Padermchai said.

Labour Protection and Welfare Department chief Arthit Ismo said he favoured a tripartite fund to take care of workers made jobless due to natural disasters.

Such a fund existed in countries at high risk of natural disasters such as Japan and South Korea, he said.

Under his proposal, the government, the employers and employees would pay contributions into the fund that would pay out between 60% and 80% of salaries to workers as benefits during a natural disaster.

The Social Security Fund's unemployment insurance policy did not cover the non-payment or partial payment of salaries while still employed as many workers had experienced during the floods, he said.