Labour groups call sums unrealistic
As the country marks Labour Day today, activists have expressed concerns over campaign promises made by parties to abruptly raise the minimum daily wages to levels they believe are unrealistic.
The Pheu Thai Party, for instance, has pledged to lift the sum to a single rate of 600 baht, while Move Forward Party (MFP) has promised to raise the minimum wage rate to 450 baht per day in every province.
Currently, the minimum daily wage in Bangkok is 353 baht, while workers in Chon Buri receive 354 baht a day. Their counterparts in other provinces receive a lower rate.
In the last general election campaign, similar promises were made by several parties. The ruling Palang Pracharath Party pledged to raise the daily wage to between 400 and 425 baht, a promise which has yet to be fulfilled. Meanwhile, Pheu Thai back then promised voters it would increase the amount to 400 baht per day.
”None of these parties has ever seriously supported movements by labour groups calling for a realistic bump in wages, yet they are now promising workers a ridiculous minimum rate,” said Sanguan Khunsong, leader of a group of workers from factories in Om Noi in Samut Sakhon and Om Yai in Nakhon Pathom.
”These promises are being conveyed only to win the election,” she said.
Worse still, none of the parties has mentioned how they will deal with the inevitable hike in consumer product prices that will follow any across-the-board rise in incomes, she said.
Wichai Naraphaibun, manager of Thai Labour Museum, said although he supports proposals to raise the rate, he has yet to be convinced that the country’s industrial infrastructure will improve any time soon.
He bases this assertion on what he has seen from the parties to date as they campaign for the May 14 election.
“Even the Yingluck Shinawatra administration, that promised to raise the daily wage to 300 baht and actually implemented the policy when they won, didn’t contribute to the country’s industrial infrastructure.
“Technology and research and innovation play a key role in development, as we have seen in countries such as South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan where wages are high,” he said.
In his opinion, Pheu Thai will never implement a 600-baht minimum wage and will blame that failure on a lack of support from its partners in a coalition government.
Since the policy was announced, the prices of certain consumer products have already gone up, according to Chanthip Loet-hathakan, an activist working with a network of workers in the informal economy.
However, Ekaporn Rakkwamsuk, a Pheu Thai list candidate, insisted the pledge is realistic, saying the party also has other policies that will help transform Thailand into a so-called digital country by 2027, and see gross domestic product (GDP) grow at least 5% per year.
”By then every worker will earn at least 600 baht a day and while the whole family will be guaranteed to earn at least 20,000 baht a month,” he said.
Suthep Ou-oun, an MFP list candidate, meanwhile, said that aside from raising the daily wage once to 450 baht, the MFP also aims to raise the sum every year after that.
In the long term, the party intends to stop using daily wages in favour of using monthly incomes as part of its overall plan to create a welfare state, he said.
Manit Promkarikul, of the United Thai Nation Party (UTN) said the party intends to push for a national chain of “labour banks” which will allow workers under the social security system to use contributions they have paid into the retirement fund in as a form of collateral when making loan applications.
Manas Kosol, a president of the Confederation of Thai Labour and leader of the Nation Building Labour Party (NLP), stressed the need for fair employment laws to ensure secure the welfare for workers.