SME Owners to Meet Pita Over Minimum Wage Hike

[webfact]

BANGKOK (NNT) - Small and medium-sized business owners are planning a meeting with the Move Forward Party’s (MFP) prime ministerial candidate later this month to deliberate a proposal for increasing the minimum wage.

 

The Federation of Thai SMEs has announced a meeting with Prime Ministerial candidate Pita Limjaroenrat scheduled for June 13, with the agenda to center around his proposal to raise the minimum wage to 450 baht per day. This wage hike was a key policy presented by MFP during its election campaign, as it pledged to implement the new rate within its first 100 days in office.

 

Norathep Boonkep, Secretary-General of the Federation of Thai SMEs, indicated that the proposed wage increase could have a significant impact on business owners already facing high operational costs. SMEs currently employ over 12 million workers.

 

However, Norathep clarified that the federation is not opposing the proposal outright, but rather hopes to arrive at an appropriate rate through comprehensive discussions and the existing trilateral mechanism. Furthermore, Norathep expressed the federation’s interest in implementing skill-based wages, as highly skilled workers could greatly contribute to the advancement of the business sector.

 

He also noted that SMEs are still recovering from the pandemic and that the economic outlook for the second half of the year appears promising, largely due to ongoing recovery in the tourism sector.

 

by Paul Rujopakarn

 

Source: https://thainews.prd.go.th/en/news/detail/TCATG230606112450382

 

-- © Copyright NNT 2023-06-06

 

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[hotchilli]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

Small and medium-sized business owners are planning a meeting with the Move Forward Party’s (MFP) prime ministerial candidate later this month to deliberate a proposal for increasing the minimum wage.

Pleading poverty to keep the slaves on a minimum wage.

[Purdey]

I believe this happens every time a government wants to raise wages. However, one can foresee prices rising as a result.

[zzaa09]

3 hours ago, hotchilli said:

Pleading poverty to keep the slaves on a minimum wage.

As it's always been the case [and practice] among the business communities the world over - keep the wages below living standards, employing as few as possible while trying to squeeze the same work and production out of those minimal number of staff. It's always about [unnecessary] labour issues - never mind their general overhead expenses, inventory, and production costs. 

 

I've a personal motto regarding business in general: if one can't afford to pay your employees a living/decent salary, than you shouldn't be in business. Usually applies to corporation types more so than smaller or mid-range business models.