Online petition draws attention to Thai SSO flaws

Online petition draws attention to SSO flaws
The Nation

Academic calls for changes to 'unfair' conditions

BANGKOK: -- A CHIANG MAI-based academic has filed a request with the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) via change.org calling for many crucial alterations to "unfair" Social Security Office (SSO) conditions.

In his online campaign, Vichai Kosanguanmitr is also calling for one of the most recent controversial conditions to remain - that resigning employees be paid 30 per cent of their last three months salary. A recent proposal from SSO said it wants this regulation to be removed.

Vichai hails from Chiang Mai Rajabhat University's Faculty of Management Sciences.

The amendment to the SSO bill is in its second hearing with the National Legislative Assembly. In the bill, the SSO says it should not be necessary to pay people who voluntarily resign because this is not done in any other country. However, many groups of SSO beneficiaries are campaigning against the proposal.

Vichai's campaign is also calling for the scrapping of an SSO condition that stops beneficiaries from withdrawing the entire amount of their savings after contributing for more than 15 years after they quit their jobs. This monthly contribution of Bt1,500, half deducted from their salaries and half contributed by employers, is usually worth 180 times after more than 15 years. The SSO only allows the total sum to be paid back on a monthly basis.

Vichai is also campaigning against the SSO rule that says if an SSO beneficiary dies five years after retiring, the heirs get nothing, but they get 10 times the deceased person's monthly pension if they die less than five months after the retirement age of 55.

So far, Vichai's campaign on change.org has won 839 of the 1,000 required signatures.

The other key conditions that Vichai finds unfair are: loss of SSO savings if beneficiaries fail to claim it within a year after retirement and savings will be seized if the deceased beneficiary has no heirs. Also, SSO scheme provides less coverage for dental care and other benefits compared to those under the universal healthcare, whose beneficiaries do not need to contribute.

Restarting the SSO membership every time a beneficiary changes jobs is also unfair, Vichai said.

The campaign says that members representing the government side in the SSO's tripartite board of executives have overstayed their terms of office. It also questions the transparency and efficiency in SSO investments in stocks and other trade using beneficiaries' savings.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Online-petition-draws-attention-to-SSO-flaws-30253885.html


-- The Nation 2015-02-12