Small and mid-size automobile businesses in Thailand are locked in an escalating battle for workers with big carmakers.

"Toyota is an important customer, but it’s poaching workers from us with generous bonuses," said the manager of a small Japanese autoparts supplier in Thailand, after a college graduate the company had trained left the job after only a year to join a local Toyota affiliate.

Toyota Motor Thailand stunned the industry this year by offering annual bonuses of roughly 10 months’ pay to its labour union.

The union’s position was fortified by the booming home market. The Thai government’s two-year tax relief programme for first-time car buyers drove new-vehicle sales in the country to an all-time high in 2012. This kept Japanese automakers, which account for more than 90 per cent of the market, running their local factories at full capacity towards the first half of the year.

Following in Toyota’s footsteps, other carmakers and auto-part suppliers offered similar bonuses. This encouraged workers at smaller Japanese auto-part makers to jump ship to Toyota and other firms.

-- The Nation 2013-12-18

Samsung Engineering was doing similar some months ago. Offering engineering staff 30% more than they were getting. So some engineering companies lost employees. Some employees asked their employers for a raise , which they got, and then went to Samsung!

I think it is called capitalism. A system some fawn over.

The problem is zero unemployment - really hope this will change in 2015

Big player bully small player.

Same same as Thai govt. Thaksin bully Mark.

Sounds like Toyota is getting in the same bind the USA car makers got into with dealing with unions and overpaying

There is no problem here, supply and demand. People should be rewarded for there education, experience, and skill.

Choose a career/education path that is both interesting and rewarding.

Been going on for years ! The missus and her Issan friends used to get months bonuses, sometimes up to six months for their work in Factories ... Not just the Auto industry either ... Thats why they are in BKK working factories and not planting rice ... better money ... Find a good company and stick with them ......Their all happy ...

There is no problem here, supply and demand. People should be rewarded for there education, experience, and skill.

Choose a career/education path that is both interesting and rewarding.

but sometimes when choosing an education,you believe that it is rewarding today. After your education, it is no longer in demand.

There is no problem here, supply and demand. People should be rewarded for there education, experience, and skill.

Choose a career/education path that is both interesting and rewarding.

but sometimes when choosing an education,you believe that it is rewarding today. After your education, it is no longer in demand.

Has there ever been a demand for arts, social studies, psychology, learning to stand like a tree etc etc etc ?

Big player bully small player.

Same same as Thai govt. Thaksin bully Mark.

*Is it in any way possible for you to make any intelligent comment ? What in the bloody hell has Thaksin got to do with this ? You are starting to sound as mindless as your beloved red shirted thugs....

Sounds like Toyota is getting in the same bind the USA car makers got into with dealing with unions and overpaying

I fail to see any link to union demands in this story. USA car makers got into a bind over reasonable wages/excessive profits/corporate responsibility.

They happily closed down car making in Michigan and surrounding states, destroyed coal and steel in Pennsylvania and destroyed the American

economy for excessive profits on the back of low wages paid in developing countries. No corporate responsibility to the USA on display there, only greed.