Bt300 Wage Will Be Enforced By 2012 End: Thai Labour Ministry

[webfact]

Bt300 wage will be enforced by 2012 end

By The Nation

The Labour Ministry expects to push the daily minimum wage up to Bt300 across the country before the end of next year after a signifiฌcant raise of about 40 per cent appeared likely to take effect on January 1.

"It's the government policy," permanent secretary Somkiat Chayasriwong said yesterday.

"If necessary, the issue may have to be resolved via a vote by the tripartite Central Wage Committee," he said.

The Central Wage Committee, with representatives from employers, employees and the government, has always agreed on hikes in the daily minimum wage for each province through discussions. Voting has never been used before.

During its winning election campaign, the Pheu Thai Party promised to raise the daily minimum wage to Bt300. Now, workers and labourrights organisations are pressing hard on the government to honour its election comฌmitments, while many employers have raised howls of complaints.

However, Somkiat was now quite optimistic after the Board of Trade acquiesced to a 40percent hike across the country

"We just had the discussion on Monday," Somkiat said.

Currently, the daily minimum wage ranges from Bt159Bt221. Phuket has the highest at Bt221, while Phayao has the lowest.

The ministry is trying to complete by next month the preparaฌtions for the big hike in the daily minimum wage. Among the many measures to ease the pain on entrepreneurs is a proposal to lower the corporate income tax from 30 per cent to just 23 per cent.

"We will communicate with entrepreneurs to create better understanding," he said.

The ministry also plans to provide skilldevelopment training for workers to ensure that they deserved the Bt300 wage.

Chatchai Boonrat, vice president of the Board of Trade, said he believes that the Central Wage Committee could force employers to accept the Bt300 wage by law.

"If the government is going to push for such a raise, it should have effective remedies in place for suffering employers," he said.

The Bt300 wage might not be fair to skilled workers with years of experience, who would be earning the same rate as new workers with just days of training, he said.

Some employers might take advantage of this opportunity to seek government help even though the higher wages did not hurt their business, he added.

Somkiat said authorities would screen employers asking for help.

-- The Nation 2011-09-21

[siampolee]

During its winning election campaign, the Pheu Thai Party promised to raise the daily minimum wage to Bt300. Now, workers and labourrights organisations are pressing hard on the government to honour its election comฌmitments, while many employers have raised howls of complaints.

However, Somkiat was now quite optimistic after the Board of Trade acquiesced to a 40percent hike across the country

"We just had the discussion on Monday," Somkiat said.

Currently, the daily minimum wage ranges from Bt159Bt221. Phuket has the highest at Bt221, while Phayao has the lowest.

The ministry is trying to complete by next month the preparaฌtions for the big hike in the daily minimum wage. Among the many measures to ease the pain on entrepreneurs is a proposal to lower the corporate income tax from 30 per cent to just 23 per cent.

"We will communicate with entrepreneurs to create better understanding," he said.

Some employers might take advantage of this opportunity to seek government help even though the higher wages did not hurt their business, he added.

Somkiat said authorities would screen employers asking for help.

Indeed the current administration do seem to have looked back at history and it would seem as if the Emperor Nero is their role model

Edited September 21, 2011 by siampolee

[finnomick1]

I hear the en-mass voters/rural farm workers of Isaan ( and other regions ) want to know when they can expect the minimum 159 baht per day, let alone the all new 300 baht per day.....

[ginjag]

I hear the en-mass voters/rural farm workers of Isaan ( and other regions ) want to know when they can expect the minimum 159 baht per day, let alone the all new 300 baht per day.....

CHEATS CHEATS....this was never mentioned in the pre election promise. it was quite clear what they did promise. 300 bht for all when we get elected..

QUOTE----The ministry also plans to provide skill development training for workers to ensure that they deserved the Bt300 wage.

It still wouldn't make them rich in 6 months...another promise.

[whybother]

Weren't they saying just last week that they couldn't enforce it? But why do they need to wait until the end of 2012? I thought the promise was by the start of the year.

[Crushdepth]

Weren't they saying just last week that they couldn't enforce it? But why do they need to wait until the end of 2012? I thought the promise was by the start of the year.

Their first statement after the election remains the most accurate: "You have to understand, that was just a campaign promise."

[moe666]

They maybe finding out how expensive campaign promises are

[hammered]

During an election a party makes a bunch of promises. If elected, during the tenure of the government enough of these promises must be carried through to keep the electorate onside at the next election. If PTP deliver 300 baht per day during their tenure I doubt many will complain. If they achieve it by the end of 2012, that will be pretty good going.

In reality delivering 300 baht a day is almost a guarantee of victory in the next election, which is why their opponents want to either see it not happen or muddy things into well it didnt happen on the day Yingluck took office. The problem with that approach is that you keep looking like you are the ones stopping the government. All it needs now is a PTP enemy to try and embroil any of these populist policies in court cases or bureaucratic delays and PTPs popularity will soar.

[rkidlad]

It reminds of that scene in 'The Office' when David Brent tells all his employees that no one would be losing their job.

David Brent: I gave a speech only this morning to my staff assuring them that there would not be cutbacks at this branch and there certainly wouldn't be redundancies, so...

Jennifer Taylor-Clark: Well, why on Earth would you do that?

David Brent: Why? Oh, don't know. A little word I think's important in management called morale.

Jennifer Taylor-Clark: Well, surely it's going to be worse for morale in the long run when there ARE redundancies and you've told people that there won't be.

[pause]

David Brent: They won't remember.

[Bakseedaa]

During an election a party makes a bunch of promises. If elected, during the tenure of the government enough of these promises must be carried through to keep the electorate onside at the next election. If PTP deliver 300 baht per day during their tenure I doubt many will complain. If they achieve it by the end of 2012, that will be pretty good going.

In reality delivering 300 baht a day is almost a guarantee of victory in the next election, which is why their opponents want to either see it not happen or muddy things into well it didnt happen on the day Yingluck took office. The problem with that approach is that you keep looking like you are the ones stopping the government. All it needs now is a PTP enemy to try and embroil any of these populist policies in court cases or bureaucratic delays and PTPs popularity will soar.

You spelt it wrong... should be Sore...!

[Nisa]

The ministry also plans to provide skilldevelopment training for workers to ensure that they deserved the Bt300 wage.

Hint: If you believe workers need to have developed skills to be deserving of the minimum wage, then the minimum wage is too high. Minimum wage by definition is the lowest pay and logically should be paid to the least experienced and unskilled workers.

I am in favor of raising the minimum wage but they are going about this all wrong and are going to hurt the people they claim to be helping simply because of a campaign promise. The wage needs to be increased at a reasonable rate over a period of time and not an increase of 40% overnight.

Edited September 21, 2011 by Nisa

[OzMick]

Exactly what courses is Mr gullible in the picture going to take to increase his efficiency so as to deserve B300/day? How about console operator, then they can fire everybody else.

So 1 happy PTP voter - how many out of work?

[rixalex]

During an election a party makes a bunch of promises. If elected, during the tenure of the government enough of these promises must be carried through to keep the electorate onside at the next election. If PTP deliver 300 baht per day during their tenure I doubt many will complain. If they achieve it by the end of 2012, that will be pretty good going.

In reality delivering 300 baht a day is almost a guarantee of victory in the next election, which is why their opponents want to either see it not happen or muddy things into well it didnt happen on the day Yingluck took office. The problem with that approach is that you keep looking like you are the ones stopping the government. All it needs now is a PTP enemy to try and embroil any of these populist policies in court cases or bureaucratic delays and PTPs popularity will soar.

It's difficult to get a party to uphold a promise when it is non-specific and general, like "we will raise the quality of life for the poorer classes", so i reluctantly accept these type of promises being made and broken during election campaigns. But when a party states something very specific, as PTP did, i believe there must be a mechanism in place to make them deliver or otherwise face some sort of legal consequence for all the votes they won under false pretences. It's not enough to simply say, well if they don't deliver they can be voted out in four years. Four years is a very long time and what they can do in that time in the way on entrenching their position of power, makes taking the risk of telling blatant lies a risk worth taking. This is wrong. This is not democracy.

[chaoyang]

I am in favor of raising the minimum wage but they are going about this all wrong and are going to hurt the people they claim to be helping simply because of a campaign promise. The wage needs to be increased at a reasonable rate over a period of time and not an increase of 40% overnight.

It appears they are doing something like that ... 2012 is the end of NEXT year ... but are vilified by many here for "reneging". Give 'em some time and see if this can work out. It's better than back to square one -- which is Democrats in power, feudal system firmly in place.

[quiksilva]

Hopefully the DSD will offer better skills than the repairs and massage courses currently on offer...

[Ricardo]

I am in favor of raising the minimum wage but they are going about this all wrong and are going to hurt the people they claim to be helping simply because of a campaign promise. The wage needs to be increased at a reasonable rate over a period of time and not an increase of 40% overnight.

It appears they are doing something like that ... 2012 is the end of NEXT year ... but are vilified by many here for "reneging". Give 'em some time and see if this can work out. It's better than back to square one -- which is Democrats in power, feudal system firmly in place.

Disagree, the PTP pre-election promise was clearly for an immediate rate of 300B/day, once they were elected, not a pie-in-the-sky promise to now achieve it 18 months later, which they might easily once more fail-to-deliver. So PTP are indeed reneging, as some expected.

It's also worth remembering that the Democrats' promise was also for 300B/day, within 2 years of the election, which would have allowed a reasonable time to phase it in, they were being realistic but the PTP promised more and won the election and are now failing-to-deliver.

I'd similarly point out that, in respect of Thaksin's own promise that "all Thais will be rich after 6 months", his time-scale is now approaching the half-way point. Perhaps he too needs to be let-off his firm clear promises, and given more time to deliver, all he needs to do is admit that his promise was an 'election speech' and that his word means squat !

Or perhaps it is OK to lie to the poor, and fail to keep a key promise, which enabled PTP to scrape into power ?

Edited September 21, 2011 by Ricardo

[hammered]

During an election a party makes a bunch of promises. If elected, during the tenure of the government enough of these promises must be carried through to keep the electorate onside at the next election. If PTP deliver 300 baht per day during their tenure I doubt many will complain. If they achieve it by the end of 2012, that will be pretty good going.

In reality delivering 300 baht a day is almost a guarantee of victory in the next election, which is why their opponents want to either see it not happen or muddy things into well it didnt happen on the day Yingluck took office. The problem with that approach is that you keep looking like you are the ones stopping the government. All it needs now is a PTP enemy to try and embroil any of these populist policies in court cases or bureaucratic delays and PTPs popularity will soar.

It's difficult to get a party to uphold a promise when it is non-specific and general, like "we will raise the quality of life for the poorer classes", so i reluctantly accept these type of promises being made and broken during election campaigns. But when a party states something very specific, as PTP did, i believe there must be a mechanism in place to make them deliver or otherwise face some sort of legal consequence for all the votes they won under false pretences. It's not enough to simply say, well if they don't deliver they can be voted out in four years. Four years is a very long time and what they can do in that time in the way on entrenching their position of power, makes taking the risk of telling blatant lies a risk worth taking. This is wrong. This is not democracy.

Obama promised to close Guantanamo bay. Should he be charged? How many different governments have increased tax after promising not to before an election. What did the liberal party in the UK promise about eduaction and immediately renege on? Political issues need to be sorted out in the political arena. It is democracy. People select governments based on many factors and if they feel let down by performance only the people should cast them out. Governments are elected to carry out policy within a term. Who has the right to decide that if something is not done immediately they should be charged as maybe they are going to do it in their last year, which is of course their prerogative. In there lies the problem and why courts can never be allowed to interfere like that. A worse case is actually where elected reps renege and say raise tax/cut benefits after saying they wont, but that would be better dealt with by recall of the reps which remains within a political framework than via a legal one.

[hammered]

I am in favor of raising the minimum wage but they are going about this all wrong and are going to hurt the people they claim to be helping simply because of a campaign promise. The wage needs to be increased at a reasonable rate over a period of time and not an increase of 40% overnight.

It appears they are doing something like that ... 2012 is the end of NEXT year ... but are vilified by many here for "reneging". Give 'em some time and see if this can work out. It's better than back to square one -- which is Democrats in power, feudal system firmly in place.

Disagree, the PTP pre-election promise was clearly for an immediate rate of 300B/day, once they were elected, not a pie-in-the-sky promise to now achieve it 18 months later, which they might easily once more fail-to-deliver. So PTP are indeed reneging, as some expected.

It's also worth remembering that the Democrats' promise was also for 300B/day, within 2 years of the election, which would have allowed a reasonable time to phase it in, they were being realistic but the PTP promised more and won the election and are now failing-to-deliver.

I'd similarly point out that, in respect of Thaksin's own promise that "all Thais will be rich after 6 months", his time-scale is now approaching the half-way point. Perhaps he too needs to be let-off his firm clear promises, and given more time to deliver, all he needs to do is admit that his promise was an 'election speech' and that his word means squat !

Or perhaps it is OK to lie to the poor, and fail to keep a key promise, which enabled PTP to scrape into power ?

The Dems didnt promise 300 baht

[Nisa]

I wonder if they are keeping this minimum wage in the news to avoid anyone thinking about their other campaign promises.

Through video-link ... Thaksin and some Pheu Thai MPs listened to problems raised by an audience of taxi and motorcycle taxi drivers and told them how the party would help.

"Farmers will be getting credit cards, now taxi drivers should get them, too," Thaksin said. The credit card would be for fuel costs, Thaksin said, adding that he did not want to give out details for fear that rival parties would copy the policies.

Thaksin gave the example that the cost of a new taxi could be reduced from Bt900,000 to a little over Bt600,000 after the excise tax refund.

Addressing the problem of drivers being unable to get loans to buy taxis as they could not find a guarantor, Thaksin said his policies would allow fellow taxi drivers to cross guarantee for the loans, even though they were all borrowers.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2011/05/07/national/Thaksin-offers-easy-credit-credit-cards-for-taxi-d-30154812.html

[Ricardo]

Disagree, the PTP pre-election promise was clearly for an immediate rate of 300B/day, once they were elected, not a pie-in-the-sky promise to now achieve it 18 months later, which they might easily once more fail-to-deliver. So PTP are indeed reneging, as some expected.

It's also worth remembering that the Democrats' promise was also for 300B/day, within 2 years of the election, which would have allowed a reasonable time to phase it in, they were being realistic but the PTP promised more and won the election and are now failing-to-deliver.

I'd similarly point out that, in respect of Thaksin's own promise that "all Thais will be rich after 6 months", his time-scale is now approaching the half-way point. Perhaps he too needs to be let-off his firm clear promises, and given more time to deliver, all he needs to do is admit that his promise was an 'election speech' and that his word means squat !

Or perhaps it is OK to lie to the poor, and fail to keep a key promise, which enabled PTP to scrape into power ?

The Dems didnt promise 300 baht

After searching, I must admit that i got it wrong, my sincere apologies ! Pass me a spoon & the Hunble-Pie ! :jap:

I knew that their initial campaign-promise was 25% over 2 years, but thought that they had later matched the PTP promised-amount, still over 2 years, towards the end of the campaign. But can't find any evidence for this now. I must therefore have been mistaken.

No wonder the PTP won !

[backtonormal]

During an election a party makes a bunch of promises. If elected, during the tenure of the government enough of these promises must be carried through to keep the electorate onside at the next election. If PTP deliver 300 baht per day during their tenure I doubt many will complain. If they achieve it by the end of 2012, that will be pretty good going.

In reality delivering 300 baht a day is almost a guarantee of victory in the next election, which is why their opponents want to either see it not happen or muddy things into well it didnt happen on the day Yingluck took office. The problem with that approach is that you keep looking like you are the ones stopping the government. All it needs now is a PTP enemy to try and embroil any of these populist policies in court cases or bureaucratic delays and PTPs popularity will soar.

It's difficult to get a party to uphold a promise when it is non-specific and general, like "we will raise the quality of life for the poorer classes", so i reluctantly accept these type of promises being made and broken during election campaigns. But when a party states something very specific, as PTP did, i believe there must be a mechanism in place to make them deliver or otherwise face some sort of legal consequence for all the votes they won under false pretences. It's not enough to simply say, well if they don't deliver they can be voted out in four years. Four years is a very long time and what they can do in that time in the way on entrenching their position of power, makes taking the risk of telling blatant lies a risk worth taking. This is wrong. This is not democracy.

Be voted out in 4 years. Have you seen the opposition, they are still stuck in their old ways. To put it mildly the opposition at this point is totally unelectable but then again they have not been electable for over 20 years and it maybe another 20 years before they get a whiff of power again. Now that is a dose of reality that they will have to come to terms with

[ginjag]

The ministry also plans to provide skilldevelopment training for workers to ensure that they deserved the Bt300 wage.

Hint: If you believe workers need to have developed skills to be deserving of the minimum wage, then the minimum wage is too high. Minimum wage by definition is the lowest pay and logically should be paid to the least experienced and unskilled workers.

I am in favor of raising the minimum wage but they are going about this all wrong and are going to hurt the people they claim to be helping simply because of a campaign promise. The wage needs to be increased at a reasonable rate over a period of time and not an increase of 40% overnight.

True nisa, but how could they get elected without lies.

[ginjag]

During an election a party makes a bunch of promises. If elected, during the tenure of the government enough of these promises must be carried through to keep the electorate onside at the next election. If PTP deliver 300 baht per day during their tenure I doubt many will complain. If they achieve it by the end of 2012, that will be pretty good going.

In reality delivering 300 baht a day is almost a guarantee of victory in the next election, which is why their opponents want to either see it not happen or muddy things into well it didnt happen on the day Yingluck took office. The problem with that approach is that you keep looking like you are the ones stopping the government. All it needs now is a PTP enemy to try and embroil any of these populist policies in court cases or bureaucratic delays and PTPs popularity will soar.

It's difficult to get a party to uphold a promise when it is non-specific and general, like "we will raise the quality of life for the poorer classes", so i reluctantly accept these type of promises being made and broken during election campaigns. But when a party states something very specific, as PTP did, i believe there must be a mechanism in place to make them deliver or otherwise face some sort of legal consequence for all the votes they won under false pretences. It's not enough to simply say, well if they don't deliver they can be voted out in four years. Four years is a very long time and what they can do in that time in the way on entrenching their position of power, makes taking the risk of telling blatant lies a risk worth taking. This is wrong. This is not democracy.

Be voted out in 4 years. Have you seen the opposition, they are still stuck in their old ways. To put it mildly the opposition at this point is totally unelectable but then again they have not been electable for over 20 years and it maybe another 20 years before they get a whiff of power again. Now that is a dose of reality that they will have to come to terms with

Forget the opposition, are you not embarrassed bye the lie-when elected we will give the poor 300 bht a day, that's what this thread about, but you have to blame or draw the attention to the opposition--and the other hopeless promises -dont compare on this topic -speak it's wrong not to give OR you agree to delay the payment, if you agree to the delay in coughing up then you will let your red shirt-poor- down.

[OzMick]

Who's a bigger mug than PTP voters?

www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/481639-8000-cambodians-to-work-in-thailand-under-bilateral-deal/

[rixalex]

Obama promised to close Guantanamo bay. Should he be charged? How many different governments have increased tax after promising not to before an election. What did the liberal party in the UK promise about eduaction and immediately renege on? Political issues need to be sorted out in the political arena. It is democracy. People select governments based on many factors and if they feel let down by performance only the people should cast them out. Governments are elected to carry out policy within a term. Who has the right to decide that if something is not done immediately they should be charged as maybe they are going to do it in their last year, which is of course their prerogative. In there lies the problem and why courts can never be allowed to interfere like that. A worse case is actually where elected reps renege and say raise tax/cut benefits after saying they wont, but that would be better dealt with by recall of the reps which remains within a political framework than via a legal one.

As i said, i believe there is a certain amount of campaigning BS that will always exist, but however there is a line with regards the scale of the deceit that should be allowed, and when we are talking a central point of a party's campaign, and an issue that stands to affect great swathes of the population, there should be laws or at least strict guidelines in place. In fact i believe there already are. Why PTP weren't deemed to have broken these guidelines, i don't know. Perhaps the deceit wasn't big enough. Or perhaps, as you suggest, and contrary to the implication of the campaign posters, this is a policy we won't see until well into the government's term. Or perhaps, a blind eye was turned, much like the the blind eye we saw with regards the banned politician having been at centre of PTP's campaign. Who knows?

What i do know is, is that deceit, corruption, abuses... all those nasty sorts of things, can not simply be controlled by the ballot box. It's not enough, and in a place like this, it is too easily manipulated. There need to be other mechanisms in place to help control such behaviour.

With regards the closing of Guantanamo, i do think Obama failed the people by not delivering, but i don't think this policy was central to his campaign, and nor do i feel it is a matter that stands to affect great swathes of the population. As for the other cases you mention, one would have to look at them on a case by case basis. Not sure though this is the place. Not sure either what the point would be, because it seems that in your mind it is a case of anything goes. If the next billionaire megalomaniac to come along announces that he will transfer 1 million baht to each adult's bank account upon becoming leader, and he reneges on this and proceeds to screw the country up, you will protest not as it is all fair game in "democracy" and his comeuppance will come good and proper in a short 48 months.

[jayboy]

Obama promised to close Guantanamo bay. Should he be charged? How many different governments have increased tax after promising not to before an election. What did the liberal party in the UK promise about eduaction and immediately renege on? Political issues need to be sorted out in the political arena. It is democracy. People select governments based on many factors and if they feel let down by performance only the people should cast them out. Governments are elected to carry out policy within a term. Who has the right to decide that if something is not done immediately they should be charged as maybe they are going to do it in their last year, which is of course their prerogative. In there lies the problem and why courts can never be allowed to interfere like that. A worse case is actually where elected reps renege and say raise tax/cut benefits after saying they wont, but that would be better dealt with by recall of the reps which remains within a political framework than via a legal one.

Another UK example is the reform of the NHS with the Tories promising there would be no major administrative reform before the election, followed by a massive restructuring after they came into power.

AS you say if the level of outrage is as high as some on this thread suggest, no doubt it will be taken into account when the Thai people choose their next government (if they are allowed to).

[Farang0tang]

The next phase of PTP's 300 baht promise ploy will be to inform the masses that some outfit, such as the Central Wage Committe, who "has always agreed on hikes in the daily minimum wage" have advised against the idea. Or, simply they hope for opponents to contest in law, and it gets derailed, or put on the back-burner indefinately.

Edited September 21, 2011 by Farang0tang

[rixalex]

Another UK example is the reform of the NHS with the Tories promising there would be no major administrative reform before the election, followed by a massive restructuring after they came into power.

AS you say if the level of outrage is as high as some on this thread suggest, no doubt it will be taken into account when the Thai people choose their next government (if they are allowed to).

I appreciate we are talking shades of gray here, but i still don't think the example you offer is anything like on the same level. Let's imagine the above sign was printed in English by the Tories before the last election, with sums that represented for much of the population an increase in their wage by something in the region of 100% to 200%, and days after the election the Tories announced that it was "campaigning speak" that may not in fact be achievable, do you think the reaction from this would have been on a par to the current reaction to backtracking on NHS reforms? Of course not. The reaction would be London riots to the power of ten. Let's not pretend otherwise. And let's not pretend that deceit concerning Guantanamo or NHS amounts to the same thing. It does not.

[jayboy]

Another UK example is the reform of the NHS with the Tories promising there would be no major administrative reform before the election, followed by a massive restructuring after they came into power.

AS you say if the level of outrage is as high as some on this thread suggest, no doubt it will be taken into account when the Thai people choose their next government (if they are allowed to).

I appreciate we are talking shades of gray here, but i still don't think the example you offer is anything like on the same level. Let's imagine the above sign was printed in English by the Tories before the last election, with sums that represented for much of the population an increase in their wage by something in the region of 100% to 200%, and days after the election the Tories announced that it was "campaigning speak" that may not in fact be achievable, do you think the reaction from this would have been on a par to the current reaction to backtracking on NHS reforms? Of course not. The reaction would be London riots to the power of ten. Let's not pretend otherwise. And let's not pretend that deceit concerning Guantanamo or NHS amounts to the same thing. It does not.

To be honest the minimum wage issue in Thailand has yet to be finessed or anything like it, so anything we say is provisional.I doubt also whether in the end those in Thailand who feel hard done by are going to vote for anyone else than the PTP.It's not as though the Dems are seen as the poor man's friend so the poor have nowhere else to go to.As I have said frequently on this forum there's an opportunity here for the Korn faction to take on a Disraelian one nation role.

Incidentally I think you are wrong about the British and the NHS.Someone once said - I forget who - it's the closest thing to a religion in the UK.So politicians fool around with it at their peril.(Personally I found it to be a horrible slummy disgrace with, doctors apart, slovenly Neanderthal like staff - but that's not the general view)

[longtimepassed]

I am in favor of raising the minimum wage but they are going about this all wrong and are going to hurt the people they claim to be helping simply because of a campaign promise. The wage needs to be increased at a reasonable rate over a period of time and not an increase of 40% overnight.

It appears they are doing something like that ... 2012 is the end of NEXT year ... but are vilified by many here for "reneging". Give 'em some time and see if this can work out. It's better than back to square one -- which is Democrats in power, feudal system firmly in place.

The returning criminal = Feudal system firmly in place!!!!