Govt urged to respect committee’s decision
The cabinet is expected to order a review of new daily minimum wage rates on Tuesday, while business organisations are urging the government to respect the decision on wage increases made by a tripartite wage committee.
Labour Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said on Monday he has no authority to review the rates approved by the committee and will ask the cabinet to consider ordering the review.
“As the labour minister, I oversee the tripartite committee, but I cannot interfere with its decision. The only way is to submit the matter to the cabinet, so it will order the review,” he said.
However, he said there would be nothing the government could do if the committee stood by its decision. “The new rates were unanimously agreed upon by representatives of the employees, employers and the state in the committee,” he said.
The committee approved the new rates last Friday.
Mr Phiphat said a review is typically based on the rate of economic growth, inflation, and the cost of living over the past five years. He noted that the economic disruption of the Covid-19 years — 2020 and 2021 — should not be used to calculate the new wage rates.
Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin on Saturday said he would seek a revision of the committee’s decision to raise the daily minimum wage rate by between 2 and 16 baht across the country, saying he couldn’t agree with such low hikes.
Mr Srettha said he would seek talks with the committee, which is comprised of officials from the Ministry of Labour, employers and employees, in the coming weeks.
He said if the committee’s decision to raise wages by only 2-16 baht is submitted to the cabinet for endorsement, he will reject it and call for a more suitable raise.
“Should we really have to leave the minimum wages for Thai workers this ridiculously low, while Singapore, for one, offers a minimum wage of 1,000 baht a day?” he asked.
Hassadin Suwatthanapongchet, secretary-general of the Federation of Thai Industries’ Northeastern Chapter, on Monday said Mr Srettha should respect the committee’s decision on the new wage rates to ensure fairness to both employees and employers.
A sharp increase in the daily minimum wage could hurt the economy, which is still making a slow recovery, he said.
Veerasu Kaewboonpun, an employee’s representative on the committee, said the new wage rates were a compromise acceptable to all sides on the committee as employers can also afford to pay them while the new rates also offer employees enough money to live on.
The daily minimum wage for Thai workers nationwide is set to rise from Jan 1, 2024, and the new rates will vary from province to province, ranging from 330 to 370 baht, according to the committee. The current rates are between 328 and 354 baht. The increases in the daily minimum wage will range from 2 to 16 baht, or an average of 2.4%.
However, the new daily wage falls short of the 400 baht per day minimum wage that the Pheu Thai Party promised during its election campaign earlier this year. Pheu Thai’s plan for a big wage hike rattled businesses that feared it would push up operating costs and make the country less competitive for investors when the economy is underperforming.