PUBLISHED : 2 Oct 2024 at 04:00
The Labour Ministry has given assurances that the 400-baht minimum wage will be introduced nationwide by the end of the year, according to Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn.
He said the tripartite wage committee needed to wait for the official appointment of two replacement members, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Labour and the Director-General of the Department of Labour Protection and Welfare (DLPW), who retired at the end of September.
Mr Boonsong Thapchaiyuth was appointed as the new permanent secretary yesterday while the name of the new director-general of the DLPW will be submitted to the cabinet for approval next week, Mr Phiphat said.
Regarding the representative from the Bank of Thailand (BoT), the ministry is still waiting for a BoT decision on whether to replace the existing one. That person retired from the BoT last year but is still eligible to stay on the wage committee until March next year.
He said the new permanent secretary will clarify the issue with the BoT.
“I confirm that we will continue increasing the minimum wage to 400 baht and it must be done by the end of the year. When the committee is ready, we can proceed again,” said Mr Phiphat.
Meanwhile, the ministry yesterday also said it will amend some regulations in the next two months to ensure that monthly employees receive overtime (OT) rights.
The minister recently had a discussion with Panat Thailuan, president of the National Congress of Thai Labour (NCTL), and representatives from seven labour councils, when they submitted a petition calling for amendments to the Labour Ministry’s Ministerial Regulations No.7 and No.13 issued under the Labour Protection Act BE 2541 (1998).
Currently, both ministerial regulations exclude employees paid every month from receiving overtime pay on the same terms as daily wage workers.
Mr Phiphat also ordered a tripartite panel of seven representatives from each group of employers, employees, and the government to study the potential impacts of the regulation revisions.
The panel will consider allowing monthly workers to receive overtime pay at 1.5 times their hourly rate on their regular work days and three times for work performed on their days off.
In addition, Mr Phiphat told the DLPW to hold meetings about the matter and report the results of its study on the law amendments within two months.