Thai Unionists 'Laid Off In Wake Of Wage Increase'

[Moruya]

Thailand, fortunately, is not as unionised as some nations.

Looking at France at the moment, it's a basket case.

And as for Greece - if Greece was a horse they would shoot it.

Now then, Red Shirt Supremo Tida and her red flag brethren might jump in to support the unions. That would make an interesting game........

[waza]

Thai companies screwing their Staff all the time, and also treating them bad when they are employed with the attitude of "If you dont like it we get someone else" Harks back to the Thatcher days in the Uk 1980s

You mean in the "good old days" when the unions thought they had the right to run the country and companies and stating if they didn't get at least a 25% pay rise they would walk out..... and they did?

Ask any of the rank and file how much money it cost them in the miners strike and where the UK mining industry is today and the same goes for the UK motor industry thanks to "Red Robbo.

Then ask the workers if all their union leaders only lived on strike pay too.

I am not against unions provided they are properly led and do the job they are there for which is to help and protect the workers and not as the UK used to be "thinking that they were above the law and rules didn't apply to them.

The Thatcher years laid the foundations for the pain we suffer today, she began the change to a deregulated, free market economy that created the concentration of wealth in the hands of the 1% and their we are above the law actions (which remain unpunished) that resulted in the global GFC.

If Red Robbo had won then the UK would be in a far better financial position and would still have a manufacturing industry and we wouldnt be facing the need for a socialist revolution for social equality.

[jerrysteve]

Is it any wonder why Thais who have the skills whether learned from trade schools or universities, who are fluent in English, and who seek jobs outside of Thailand and find them, do not wish to come back to their own country.

Even an increase of 300 Baht is an Insult.

Thai people I personally know in the U.S. who have excellent jobs, have no wish to come back to such depressed employment mentality.

[kerryk]

Is it any wonder why Thais who have the skills whether learned from trade schools or universities, who are fluent in English, and who seek jobs outside of Thailand and find them, do not wish to come back to their own country.

Even an increase of 300 Baht is an Insult.

Thai people I personally know in the U.S. who have excellent jobs, have no wish to come back to such depressed employment mentality.

Odd isn't how many doctors with diplomas from the US on their walls who came back to practice medicine in Thailand. Funny why the ex PM wants to come back. Even stranger why an ex PM with a degree from Oxford wants to stay in Thailand. And why would all those expats want to work here for starvation wages as teachers? Wow! This surly is an unusual place?

[hellodolly]

It gets a little tiring hearing this big companies are making big profits off the poor wages they pay here and the poor working conditions.

Ask yourself if that is their driving force why are they not in Cambodia, Viet Nam, Laos (no sea port) or Burma they are looking to attract business. Or many African nations that would supply a cheaper work force.

Big business will be able to maintain their profits by passing on the additional costs all over the world. It is the Small Thai operations that will hurt. The service industry the small mom and pop stores 7 11s they don't have a population of Billions of people to spread their costs on to.

Now that I think about it the rice farmers should have no problem with those wages either considering the amount of money the Government is paying for rice.

Edited May 15, 2012 by hellodolly

[thaiedward]

In the US, unions represent the last-bastion of the working middle-class.

In the US, rich guys brag like boys about how little they pay their workers, domestic help, etc. then display a new golf bag "...made from the skin of a whale's penis. There ain't no seam!" one such illuminati exclaimed in my presence.

If the one percent don't begin to infuse a bit of socialism into their scheme, things will get ugly...one way or another.

[LuckyLew]

'Only 73 written complaints have been received since April 1st'

Well; chances are that if more Thai's could write properly when they left School there would have been a lot more written complaints !

It is not that they can or cannot write.

They are scared to complain as the believe they will lose their jobs if they speak out of turn

Thai poor and peasant workers have been taking it from behind for so long they are used to

it so they just accept it and bend over

[kerryk]

'Only 73 written complaints have been received since April 1st'

Well; chances are that if more Thai's could write properly when they left School there would have been a lot more written complaints !

It is not that they can or cannot write.

They are scared to complain as the believe they will lose their jobs if they speak out of turn

Thai poor and peasant workers have been taking it from behind for so long they are used to

it so they just accept it and bend over

Ya I saw them a couple of years ago wearing red shirts in Bangkok. Maybe you were not here.

[louse1953]

Grumbling by workers about not being paid the full Bt300 is commonplace, but only 73 written complains have been received by the TLSC since April 1.

Well maybe that indicates the level of literacy amongst the 300 baht or less a day brigade!

It was a shocking error of judgement to offer 300 baht as a minimum wage so soon! The Government have looked after their own by cutting corporate tax, now they will need to look after the people that voted them in. Next stop.....national bankruptcy!

It is a typical tactic by management,seen it used many times.Disgruntled work force left behind,drop in productivity.Management confused,eventually have to pay more to get old workforce back,but they have moved on.Pay less,get less,pay more and treat with respect and you get more.Simple really,human nature.A old saying,you get what you pay for.

[louse1953]

'Only 73 written complaints have been received since April 1st'

Well; chances are that if more Thai's could write properly when they left School there would have been a lot more written complaints !

Rubbish,all Thais i know can write and they can actually read as well.Haven't you heard of scare tactics,this is what it's all about.Unionists have been murdered in this country.

[louse1953]

when all those promises were made, and the government formed, where was the opposition to fight the approval of this sudden wage hike, that WILL hurt the country, when businesses will start moving to much lower salary countries ???

another shot in the foot.

did people suddenly start to be more productive and competitive with the major salary increase ? I guess we can ask the farang companies employing people for their advice...

i tought companies came to thailand because of the one thing they posses: cheap (mostly) unskilled workers

who benefits from driving up the unemployment ?

same people who voted blindly this party into government with false promises will end up in costing their livelyhood in the long term

Your telling us that 300B a day is not cheap labour.People have a right to a certain standard of living,not just exist so the west can buy cheap goods.

[louse1953]

Thailand, fortunately, is not as unionised as some nations.

Looking at France at the moment, it's a basket case.

And as for Greece - if Greece was a horse they would shoot it.

Now then, Red Shirt Supremo Tida and her red flag brethren might jump in to support the unions. That would make an interesting game........

The countries you mentioned and others were brought undo by corporate greed at the top,not unions at the bottom.The bottom feeders(tax payers) sorted it out,and the companies are still at it making obscene profits.Governments get lobbied to pass weak laws to allow this.

[louse1953]

Is it any wonder why Thais who have the skills whether learned from trade schools or universities, who are fluent in English, and who seek jobs outside of Thailand and find them, do not wish to come back to their own country.

Even an increase of 300 Baht is an Insult.

Thai people I personally know in the U.S. who have excellent jobs, have no wish to come back to such depressed employment mentality.

Odd isn't how many doctors with diplomas from the US on their walls who came back to practice medicine in Thailand. Funny why the ex PM wants to come back. Even stranger why an ex PM with a degree from Oxford wants to stay in Thailand. And why would all those expats want to work here for starvation wages as teachers? Wow! This surly is an unusual place?

How many doctors and dentists and others are on 300b a day.Ex Pm wants back because he can't operate in the real world,he'd be up on fraud,again.Were is he gunna run,Pattaya.Most expats have backup funds so they can survive.

[kerryk]

when all those promises were made, and the government formed, where was the opposition to fight the approval of this sudden wage hike, that WILL hurt the country, when businesses will start moving to much lower salary countries ???

another shot in the foot.

did people suddenly start to be more productive and competitive with the major salary increase ? I guess we can ask the farang companies employing people for their advice...

i tought companies came to thailand because of the one thing they posses: cheap (mostly) unskilled workers

who benefits from driving up the unemployment ?

same people who voted blindly this party into government with false promises will end up in costing their livelyhood in the long term

Your telling us that 300B a day is not cheap labour.People have a right to a certain standard of living,not just exist so the west can buy cheap goods.

So who do we ask? Who determines what that standard of living is? They just opened a new Ford plant in Thailand that will produce 500,000 cars a year and buy billions of Baht in supplies and labor from Thailand to make those cars. Who do you think Ford asked how much to pay the workers? The UAW in Detroit? (Detroit is now a ghost town if you didn't know it.) Way to go UAW, nice job AFLCIO, go get em Teamsters.

[waza]

when all those promises were made, and the government formed, where was the opposition to fight the approval of this sudden wage hike, that WILL hurt the country, when businesses will start moving to much lower salary countries ???

another shot in the foot.

did people suddenly start to be more productive and competitive with the major salary increase ? I guess we can ask the farang companies employing people for their advice...

i tought companies came to thailand because of the one thing they posses: cheap (mostly) unskilled workers

who benefits from driving up the unemployment ?

same people who voted blindly this party into government with false promises will end up in costing their livelyhood in the long term

Your telling us that 300B a day is not cheap labour.People have a right to a certain standard of living,not just exist so the west can buy cheap goods.

So who do we ask? Who determines what that standard of living is? They just opened a new Ford plant in Thailand that will produce 500,000 cars a year and buy billions of Baht in supplies and labor from Thailand to make those cars. Who do you think Ford asked how much to pay the workers? The UAW in Detroit? (Detroit is now a ghost town if you didn't know it.) Way to go UAW, nice job AFLCIO, go get em Teamsters.

The feul costs to ship the fleets of cars from the US to China would be greater than the labour costs in Thailand to produce the same amount of cars. But you can bet your bottom $ Fords business plan would include every satang of labour costs as well as the cost of corruption.

[KKvampire]

Thai companies screwing their Staff all the time, and also treating them bad when they are employed with the attitude of "If you dont like it we get someone else" Harks back to the Thatcher days in the Uk 1980s

You mean in the "good old days" when the unions thought they had the right to run the country and companies and stating if they didn't get at least a 25% pay rise they would walk out..... and they did?

Ask any of the rank and file how much money it cost them in the miners strike and where the UK mining industry is today and the same goes for the UK motor industry thanks to "Red Robbo.

Then ask the workers if all their union leaders only lived on strike pay too.

I am not against unions provided they are properly led and do the job they are there for which is to help and protect the workers and not as the UK used to be "thinking that they were above the law and rules didn't apply to them.

The Thatcher years laid the foundations for the pain we suffer today, she began the change to a deregulated, free market economy that created the concentration of wealth in the hands of the 1% and their we are above the law actions (which remain unpunished) that resulted in the global GFC.

If Red Robbo had won then the UK would be in a far better financial position and would still have a manufacturing industry and we wouldnt be facing the need for a socialist revolution for social equality.

Governments of Western economies told us from the 1980s under Thatcher and Reagan through to Clinton Bush and Blair ,let the financial industry free reign, unregulated with the freedom to bring huge profits that will benefit everyone and.industry must have labour to use in whatever way it needs and invest in foreign countries as it wants to..all this will bring long term prosperity and employment .It has failed, GDP was higher in the 1960s and 1970s,

The prime example of an investment way is Germany who are riding the world recession better than any western country , under German governments of Right and left German countries have to by law invest in their own country's industry, which incidentally is heavily unionised and has high social welfare costs.

The people of the west and asia are gradually waking up to the fact they.ve been sold lies and time will tell how and when they will react with anger as in France and Greece recently and chose an alternative to pain for most not all.

Edited May 16, 2012 by KKvampire

[billd766]

Thai companies screwing their Staff all the time, and also treating them bad when they are employed with the attitude of "If you dont like it we get someone else" Harks back to the Thatcher days in the Uk 1980s

You mean in the "good old days" when the unions thought they had the right to run the country and companies and stating if they didn't get at least a 25% pay rise they would walk out..... and they did?

Ask any of the rank and file how much money it cost them in the miners strike and where the UK mining industry is today and the same goes for the UK motor industry thanks to "Red Robbo.

Then ask the workers if all their union leaders only lived on strike pay too.

I am not against unions provided they are properly led and do the job they are there for which is to help and protect the workers and not as the UK used to be "thinking that they were above the law and rules didn't apply to them.

The Thatcher years laid the foundations for the pain we suffer today, she began the change to a deregulated, free market economy that created the concentration of wealth in the hands of the 1% and their we are above the law actions (which remain unpunished) that resulted in the global GFC.

If Red Robbo had won then the UK would be in a far better financial position and would still have a manufacturing industry and we wouldnt be facing the need for a socialist revolution for social equality.

There was no reason that any of the union leaders or their followers could not have stood for election under a Labour mandate.

Why didn't they if they were so passionate about the rights or the workers? After all they couls have stood and won and then the UK would be in a better financial position, or would it?

When Labour were in power they had really superb leaders like Tony Blair and Gordon Brown which is why the UK is in the position it is today, almost bankrupt.

[kerryk]

Thai companies screwing their Staff all the time, and also treating them bad when they are employed with the attitude of "If you dont like it we get someone else" Harks back to the Thatcher days in the Uk 1980s

You mean in the "good old days" when the unions thought they had the right to run the country and companies and stating if they didn't get at least a 25% pay rise they would walk out..... and they did?

Ask any of the rank and file how much money it cost them in the miners strike and where the UK mining industry is today and the same goes for the UK motor industry thanks to "Red Robbo.

Then ask the workers if all their union leaders only lived on strike pay too.

I am not against unions provided they are properly led and do the job they are there for which is to help and protect the workers and not as the UK used to be "thinking that they were above the law and rules didn't apply to them.

The Thatcher years laid the foundations for the pain we suffer today, she began the change to a deregulated, free market economy that created the concentration of wealth in the hands of the 1% and their we are above the law actions (which remain unpunished) that resulted in the global GFC.

If Red Robbo had won then the UK would be in a far better financial position and would still have a manufacturing industry and we wouldnt be facing the need for a socialist revolution for social equality.

Governments of Western economies told us from the 1980s under Thatcher and Reagan through to Clinton Bush and Blair ,let the financial industry free reign, unregulated with the freedom to bring huge profits that will benefit everyone and.industry must have labour to use in whatever way it needs and invest in foreign countries as it wants to..all this will bring long term prosperity and employment .It has failed, GDP was higher in the 1960s and 1970s,

The prime example of an investment way is Germany who are riding the world recession better than any western country , under German governments of Right and left German countries have to by law invest in their own country's industry, which incidentally is heavily unionised and has high social welfare costs.

The people of the west and asia are gradually waking up to the fact they.ve been sold lies and time will tell how and when they will react with anger as in France and Greece recently and chose an alternative to pain for most not all.

Those strong (ha ha) unions agreed with management not to give workers raises for the past ten years. Well Ya. Now they are in good shape. I doubt unions in the UK or US would have not asked for a raise in 10 years.

[waza]

Thai companies screwing their Staff all the time, and also treating them bad when they are employed with the attitude of "If you dont like it we get someone else" Harks back to the Thatcher days in the Uk 1980s

You mean in the "good old days" when the unions thought they had the right to run the country and companies and stating if they didn't get at least a 25% pay rise they would walk out..... and they did?

Ask any of the rank and file how much money it cost them in the miners strike and where the UK mining industry is today and the same goes for the UK motor industry thanks to "Red Robbo.

Then ask the workers if all their union leaders only lived on strike pay too.

I am not against unions provided they are properly led and do the job they are there for which is to help and protect the workers and not as the UK used to be "thinking that they were above the law and rules didn't apply to them.

The Thatcher years laid the foundations for the pain we suffer today, she began the change to a deregulated, free market economy that created the concentration of wealth in the hands of the 1% and their we are above the law actions (which remain unpunished) that resulted in the global GFC.

If Red Robbo had won then the UK would be in a far better financial position and would still have a manufacturing industry and we wouldnt be facing the need for a socialist revolution for social equality.

There was no reason that any of the union leaders or their followers could not have stood for election under a Labour mandate.

Why didn't they if they were so passionate about the rights or the workers? After all they couls have stood and won and then the UK would be in a better financial position, or would it?

When Labour were in power they had really superb leaders like Tony Blair and Gordon Brown which is why the UK is in the position it is today, almost bankrupt.

The unionist werent pre selected as labour candidates because the right wing faction had control of the Labour party. The really superb leaders like Tony Blair and Gordon Brown continued the work of Thatcher in de-regulating the financial system til it was not only the dominant institution but replaced manufacturing. In conclusion the Torrie and new labour are equally to blame for the UKs present woes. What the UK needs is a socialist government.

[gand]

The good news is, you get your 300 baht. The bad news is, your fired.

[dksharron]

The head union activist here disappeared 20 years ago.

Unions here do not have the same power as they do in the US, and certainly not Korea.

They are organizations, but do not have the same negotiation powers as elsewhere.

The country can increase its wages and still export just fine, the only change will be the super rich here will not be able to continually accumulate profits at the same breakneck speed. It will have to slow down. Super rich Thais do not offshore their money, they invest it where they have an advantage, and that is here. They will not sell up and move to another country,

They do not offshore their money? Not the ones that I have worked for. Hong Kong and Singapore being the favourites. Ever heard of transfer pricing?

They may put some cash overseas (HK and Singapore being pretty close to home), but they are not Warren Buffet or Jim Rogers, nor do they operate like large international companies with operations overseas. They are not international investors,

They do not have an advantage overseas like they do here. They cannot run roughshod over everything in another country (unless they are Chinese-Thai and operating in China), as they will face consequences. In their own country, there is no punishment for any of their activities. The rare individual or the rare company is out there, but it is better to be generally right than precisely wrong - Einstein.

[thaicbr]

Waza said ' What the UK needs is a socialist government'

I say that's <deleted>.

sent from my Wellcom A90+

[osiboy]

Another rant by the anti-union backed Nation group. Just read in The Guardian that a Thai firm C.P.Foods tabled a 2.5 billion pound bid for British frozen food firm Birds Eye. With this sort of money floating around in Thai companies, I find it incomprehensible that Thai firms can't find a miserable 300 baht a day to pay their employees. I am prepared to wager that British employees of Birds Eye are not going to accept a wage of $10 a day.

does this mean birds eye products on Thai supermarket shelves?

if they were on sale here they would be 50% more expensive than in the uk for sure !

[osiboy]

Waza said ' What the UK needs is a socialist government'

I say that's <deleted>.

sent from my Wellcom A90+

yeah right,............we need to give bankers and execs more and the workers less , if thailand was not so capitalist every worker here would have been on 300b min years ago , instead they just line the pockets of the greedy hi-so's as we do our banking system and those running what used to be called british rail,and buy our electric from the french and our minis,jags and rovers from the indians and germans...........better still,...lets just sell off the UK in one go and be done with it !!

[osiboy]

Is it any wonder why Thais who have the skills whether learned from trade schools or universities, who are fluent in English, and who seek jobs outside of Thailand and find them, do not wish to come back to their own country.

Even an increase of 300 Baht is an Insult.

Thai people I personally know in the U.S. who have excellent jobs, have no wish to come back to such depressed employment mentality.

Odd isn't how many doctors with diplomas from the US on their walls who came back to practice medicine in Thailand. Funny why the ex PM wants to come back. Even stranger why an ex PM with a degree from Oxford wants to stay in Thailand. And why would all those expats want to work here for starvation wages as teachers? Wow! This surly is an unusual place?

i dont think any of those you mentioned would come back for a 300b pd job !

[osiboy]

when all those promises were made, and the government formed, where was the opposition to fight the approval of this sudden wage hike, that WILL hurt the country, when businesses will start moving to much lower salary countries ???

another shot in the foot.

did people suddenly start to be more productive and competitive with the major salary increase ? I guess we can ask the farang companies employing people for their advice...

tought companies came to thailand because of the one thing they posses: cheap (mostly) unskilled workers

who benefits from driving up the unemployment ?

same people who voted blindly this party into government with false promises will end up in costing their livelyhood in the long term

You did know that Thailand has no unemployment? Thailand imports workers from Burma. Australia wants to import skilled construction labor from Thailand? Ford has just opened a new plant in Thailand that will produce 500,000 new cars per year.

No one has ever starved in Thailand. Thais are not real energetic. Work that is not fun is not liked very much.

The reason so many women and men go to work in bars is because work in bars is fun.

Thais like to have fun. Sanook. Dance and sing and drink and stuff. Just thought I would mention that.

there are thousands of unemployed thais, i know a few myself, who keeps the unemployment numbers here ? the welfare office ? the DSS ? the jobcenter ? if thais have no recourse to govt help why would the govt know the numbers , and if there was unemployment payments how much do you think they would be ?? 50b pw maybe ?.Australia does not WANT to employ thai construction workers , they want australians to move from east to west and live apart from their families for periods of upto 6months at a time ,.... its now being debated in the aussie parlaiment , ford are now mazda and have built cars here for years.Only around half the burmese are brought here for work, the rest come to find work for themselves and are sent back when caught.........................the rest of your post i totaly agree with

Edited May 31, 2012 by osiboy