Poll: Thai govt. officials have too many days off?

POLL: Too many days off, says PM

Do you think Govt officials have too many days off?

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BANGKOK: Prime Minister Thaksin Shinwatra has come to the conclusion that government officials have too many holidays and days off and wants the number to be cut, Government Spokesman Sita Divari said yesterday.

Thaksin believes a reduction would increase the country's productivity, he said.

At the weekly Cabinet meeting yesterday, the prime minister instructed his deputies, Chaturon Chaisang and Vishanu Krua-ngam, to consider ways to deal with the matter, Sita said.

At present, government officials are entitled to 16 public holidays and 104 weekend days off each year. This means state officials get at least 120 days off a year, or almost one in every three days off.

"The prime minister said it's as if government officials are taking a day off for every two days of work, which he found to be too many," Sita said.

Vishanu said that he and Chaturon would work out a formula that could be used to limit the number of days off taken by civil servants.

Thaksin's proposal yesterday came just a week after the Cabinet resolved to designate four extra holidays in October, when Bangkok hosts the 2003 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit.

On August 5, the Cabinet designated October 17, a Friday, as well as the 20th, 21st, and 22nd as public holidays, citing the need for less traffic during the period of Apec meetings.

As October 23 is already a public holiday - King Chulalongkorn Memorial Day - some government officials are expected to take Friday the 24th off as well, to get 10 consecutive days off.

Earlier this year, the Cabinet resolved to add an extra holiday during the Songkran festival for state-enterprise officials to make it a five-day holiday for them.

Before that, the government declared December 30 an extra holiday to make it a five-day holiday for the New Year festival.

-- The Nationn 2003-08-14