TLSC says minimum wage rise should be 360 baht in every province next year

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TLSC says minimum wage rise should be 360 baht in every province next year

BANGKOK, 22 June 2015 (NNT)-The Thai Labor Solidarity Committee (TLSC) and members of the labor networks nationwide will be in Bangkok to urge the Prime Minister to enforce the same minimum wage rise across the country.

According to the TLSC President, Wilaiwan Sae-tia, the TLSC has recently submitted a petition to to Labor Minister General Surasak Kanjanarat and the Ministry of Labor Permanent Secretary, who is also a chairman of the Central Wage Committee (CWC), to consider applying the same wage of 360 baht to every province next year.

The Central Wage Committee previously said it would maintain the 300 baht minimum wage until 2015 before increasing it in the following year. The TLSC has claimed the rate should be the same throughout the country as more workers are struggling to cope with higher daily expenses.

However, the CWC said the new rate would vary regionally depending on the local economy. The TLSC, meanwhile, revealed in its recent survey that workers needed an average of 360 baht per day simply to survive.

The TLSC President further added that the TLSC would join other labor networks this Thursday at the Equestrian Statue of King Rama the 5th, before walking to the Government House to submit the petition to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.

-- NNT 2015-06-22

[h90]

I think the minimum should rise to 3000 Baht.

That would make things a lot easier, we just add a zero to every price and salary.

[maprao]

The minimum wage brought an increase in the cost of living. There's a shock.

[Pimay1]

Irregardless of how much the minimum wage is I think it should be consistent nation wide.

[jackanapes]

while I am in favour of an increase I think that all increases in the future should be tied to the cost of living .

[Thai at Heart]

They might be better to provincial tax incentives not simply discount the minimum wage.

[eliotness]

360 Baht a day will be too expensive for the small farmer who is having to cope will falls in the selling price of rice, tapioca etc. It will mean that farmers simply employ less people and those they do employ will have to work harder. Sort of defeats the object !

[Pimay1]

360 Baht a day will be too expensive for the small farmer who is having to cope will falls in the selling price of rice, tapioca etc. It will mean that farmers simply employ less people and those they do employ will have to work harder. Sort of defeats the object !

I just asked my gf what the daily rate for planting and harvesting rice was in this area (not far from Kalasin). She said minimum 350 Baht up to 500 Baht depending upon different factors such as if the farmer wants to complete planting or harvesting quickly then he will pay more, some people will not work for less than a set amount and some people have no work so they will work for the 350 Baht per day.

[eliotness]

360 Baht a day will be too expensive for the small farmer who is having to cope will falls in the selling price of rice, tapioca etc. It will mean that farmers simply employ less people and those they do employ will have to work harder. Sort of defeats the object !

I just asked my gf what the daily rate for planting and harvesting rice was in this area (not far from Kalasin). She said minimum 350 Baht up to 500 Baht depending upon different factors such as if the farmer wants to complete planting or harvesting quickly then he will pay more, some people will not work for less than a set amount and some people have no work so they will work for the 350 Baht per day.

What that will do is make mechanisation financially more attractive, thus making even fewer seasonal jobs for the rural poor. Bit like what happened in Europe in the 19th century.

[NickJ]

They say that there were quite a few companies that either left Thailand or went out of business because of the hike to an all country 300b .....and that a hike to 360 would do the same thing....I would like to see a list of these companies.

Also they say all these companies moved to Cambodia or Vietnam.....If they did . What are the wages there? could they be low enough to justify a move? could they really be paying less than a dollar an hour?

[toybits]

I wonder how many business will fold as a result of the wage increase?

[masquerade]

360 Baht a day will be too expensive for the small farmer who is having to cope will falls in the selling price of rice, tapioca etc. It will mean that farmers simply employ less people and those they do employ will have to work harder. Sort of defeats the object !

I just asked my gf what the daily rate for planting and harvesting rice was in this area (not far from Kalasin). She said minimum 350 Baht up to 500 Baht depending upon different factors such as if the farmer wants to complete planting or harvesting quickly then he will pay more, some people will not work for less than a set amount and some people have no work so they will work for the 350 Baht per day.

I live mid north rural and same goes, not unusual to get 500 Plus baht per day for Hom (onion), big money crop.

[masquerade]

I wonder how many business will fold as a result of the wage increase?

I wonder how many business will pay it without a peep due to years and years of riding on the pigs back.

[dcutman]

I wonder how many business will fold as a result of the wage increase?

How many companies do you think actually pay the min wage? Or even close to it?

Of course we need to know if illegal immigrant or not. Thats a big exploitation factor.

I did just read Samsung TV pulled out of Thailand, moving to Vietnam.

[umbanda]

I understood that the Minimum Wage in Thailand is about 300 THB/week....or about 9000 THB/month, .and I understood that the Government had some kind of control of that...but... few months ago a big and expensive restaurant opened close to my home, and some university students I know in my area are working there.

Last week, I asked one of the students about his new job. He work 6 days a week, from 3PM to 1PM serving tables and helping with other shores on the new place. The compensation is 2 meals a day plus a salary of 5.500 THB a month, and rarely he get tips to increase his earnings.

[Thian]

Living in BKK costs much more then living in the sticks. So it would be fair to pay more in BKK.

It would be more fair to stop all extortion from supermarkets. In Germany most stuff costs less then half of the Thai price. A bunch of banana's (1kg) costs less then a euro there. That's same price as on a BKK market for big banana's. How's that possible?

[ikke]

I wonder how many business will fold as a result of the wage increase?

How many companies do you think actually pay the min wage? Or even close to it?

Of course we need to know if illegal immigrant or not. Thats a big exploitation factor.

I did just read Samsung TV pulled out of Thailand, moving to Vietnam.

Even Toyota is making the move out of Thailand, just across the Lao border......

[Thai at Heart]

I wonder how many business will fold as a result of the wage increase?

How many companies do you think actually pay the min wage? Or even close to it?

Of course we need to know if illegal immigrant or not. Thats a big exploitation factor.

I did just read Samsung TV pulled out of Thailand, moving to Vietnam.

Even Toyota is making the move out of Thailand, just across the Lao border......

They are making seat covers there. Hardly moving the whole manufacturing, but, it illustrates that supply chains go cross border now.

[BSJ]

For seed spraying using your own backpack sprayer it's 50baht/rai...same for spraying weedicide. The guy that seed sprayed the wifes 20 rai made a 1000 baht, got a great lunch, and worked about 6 hours! His cost, about 1.5 litres of 2 stroke mix. Next day 3 guys spayed weedicide on same 20 rai and shared 1000baht for 2 hours work....and morning tea!

Disc plowing the 20 rai cost 4000baht. Rotorvating the morning of the seeding and after the seeding 7400 baht. Plus plenty of ice, soda and a few bottles of whisky.

[maprao]

This will affect rural communities and casual labour. It's financial forces.

When I used to come back to Thailand I used to employ 5 people to generali tidy up garden, move earth and general work plus give them lunch. When they demanded 300 a day I employed three and made sure they worked which I did not do before. Now they all want more I employ people adhoc and as when required by the job. This small model transfers to big companies. Drive costs up people companies seek alternate cheaper solutions.

Now the people I used to employ sit around in ban nong nowhere doing nothing for nothing because of increased demands. I do most things myself like I used to do in Europe.

Edited June 23, 2015 by maprao

[Ace of Pop]

What constitutes a Days work here .?. Next to no hours EU style,or AsianSweat Shop hours. Without knowing the hours it means nothing.

[eliotness]

For seed spraying using your own backpack sprayer it's 50baht/rai...same for spraying weedicide. The guy that seed sprayed the wifes 20 rai made a 1000 baht, got a great lunch, and worked about 6 hours! His cost, about 1.5 litres of 2 stroke mix. Next day 3 guys spayed weedicide on same 20 rai and shared 1000baht for 2 hours work....and morning tea!

Disc plowing the 20 rai cost 4000baht. Rotorvating the morning of the seeding and after the seeding 7400 baht. Plus plenty of ice, soda and a few bottles of whisky.

With those overhead costs + the costs of harvesting ( or do you get a mechanical harvester in to do the work ?) I will be surprised if you make much of a profit, or do you do more than one crop a year ? Also what type of fertilizer do you use ?

[MyFriend You]

360 Baht a day will be too expensive for the small farmer who is having to cope will falls in the selling price of rice, tapioca etc. It will mean that farmers simply employ less people and those they do employ will have to work harder. Sort of defeats the object !

I just asked my gf what the daily rate for planting and harvesting rice was in this area (not far from Kalasin). She said minimum 350 Baht up to 500 Baht depending upon different factors such as if the farmer wants to complete planting or harvesting quickly then he will pay more, some people will not work for less than a set amount and some people have no work so they will work for the 350 Baht per day.

I live mid north rural and same goes, not unusual to get 500 Plus baht per day for Hom (onion), big money crop.

and hard work - I usd to pick onions behind a mechanical onion picker, even with the machine, it was back breaking as a teenager..................

[masquerade]

360 Baht a day will be too expensive for the small farmer who is having to cope will falls in the selling price of rice, tapioca etc. It will mean that farmers simply employ less people and those they do employ will have to work harder. Sort of defeats the object !

I just asked my gf what the daily rate for planting and harvesting rice was in this area (not far from Kalasin). She said minimum 350 Baht up to 500 Baht depending upon different factors such as if the farmer wants to complete planting or harvesting quickly then he will pay more, some people will not work for less than a set amount and some people have no work so they will work for the 350 Baht per day.

I live mid north rural and same goes, not unusual to get 500 Plus baht per day for Hom (onion), big money crop.

and hard work - I usd to pick onions behind a mechanical onion picker, even with the machine, it was back breaking as a teenager..................

Can't disagree with that, but it is good to see the women lining up for the work and getting rewarded for it, most of the men are too bloody lazy.

[mike324]

To be honest, wages hardly risen in the 90s, its long overdue. As a manufacturer myself, of course I would not like to see rising costs but its still reasonable.

Vietnam is not such a good alternative due to constant strikes. Labor wage is only slightly lower, but for large corporate companies that slightly lower wage adds up.