Firms wary of new labour law

[webfact]

Firms wary of new labour law
By Pratch Rujivanarom
The Nation

 

 

SHORTAGE OF WORKERS AND HIGHER COSTS REMAIN A WORRY DESPITE GOVT CONCESSIONS

 

BANGKOK: -- EMPLOYERS of foreign workers are worried about government efforts to solve the migrant workers’ issue, as they feel recently-announced measures are not enough to relieve the worker shortage and many small businesses may have to temporarily close down.

 

The government addressed the problem by issuing an order delaying enforcement of the new Migrant Worker Royal Ordinance for six months. The law, which proposed to punish both employers and migrant workers for violations, has received a mixed reaction, with employers admitting that they were still worried about the impact on their businesses in the future.

 

Thai Fisheries Association chairman Mongkol Sukcharoenkana said that it was obvious that the harsh punishments could effectively solve the illegal migrant worker problems, but it would be like chemotherapy that can treat cancer but has tremendous side effects on the whole system.

 

Many problems unresolved

 

Mongkol agreed with the government using its special power to relieve the impacts of this law. However, he cautioned that the measures under the new National Council for Peace and Order ruling might not be enough to relieve all the problems from the ordinance.

 

“This law greatly affects many upstream industries such as agriculture, fisheries, construction, and services, as these industries need large numbers of foreign workers to run their businesses and they are forced to stop their operations because of the fear of severe punishment and their workers have to return home,” he said.

 

“The exemption of the legal punishment until next year is good, because we can have enough time to adjust our business to the new law, but there are still many problems that are still unsolved by this NCPO order.”

 

He pointed out that the memorandum of understanding (MoU) to hire foreign workers contained several problems, which were left unsolved by the NCPO order. For instance, illegal workers currently working in Thailand have to return home to register into the MoU system, before they can work in Thailand legally, which costs them a huge amount of unnecessary expense.

 

The employers also have to pay a high price – more than Bt20,000 per migrant worker – to hire workers via the MoU system, and it is a major problem for small businesses. This is because they do not have much of a budget and require only a few workers, which makes it too expensive to hire via the MoU system.

 

Jutamas Bhupornwiwat, an SME operator, also said that the law was very troublesome to her and her business and urged the government to improve the workers’ importing and registration system.

 

“I am relieved that the government has postponed the punishment on this law until next year, as it will give me enough time to make my employees legal,” Jutamas said.

 

“However, I am still concerned about the worker import system because it does not have enough assurance that after we spend a lot to import workers we will get the workers for our business.”

 

She stated that the MoU system offers only a four-month guarantee that the workers will not change jobs, in which case the employer will lose out on the cost of hiring.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/national/30319909

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-07-05

[ukrules]

At least companies now have time to liquidate their businesses, close down ongoing projects and move out of the country before the end of the year.

 

Everythings looking just great.

[Samui Bodoh]

In most countries, there is a process of developing laws, consulting with the appropriate stakeholders, canvassing opinion, modeling the effects, drafting the legislation, going through it line by line to ensure that it does what you want it to, THEN implementing it.

 

It is the uniqueness of Thailand that they like to do this in reverse.

[colinneil]

23 minutes ago, Samui Bodoh said:

In most countries, there is a process of developing laws, consulting with the appropriate stakeholders, canvassing opinion, modeling the effects, drafting the legislation, going through it line by line to ensure that it does what you want it to, THEN implementing it.

 

It is the uniqueness of Thailand that they like to do this in reverse.

Yes but this is Thailand, being run by a bunch of people who have no idea of correct procedures.

Only knee jerk  reactions, and making a mess of thins, damaging the country in the process.

 

Edited July 5, 2017 by colinneil

[ramrod711]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

recently-announced measures are not enough to relieve the worker shortage and many small businesses may have to temporarily close down.

There are lot's of people in my village that don't work, sit around and do nothing. I know, because I have a lot of time to observe, because I mostly sit around and do nothing.

[Cadbury]

22 minutes ago, colinneil said:

Yes but this is Thailand, being run by a bunch of people who have no idea of correct procedures.

Only knee jerk  reactions, and making a mess of thins, damaging the country in the process.

 

I sense that a large part of the problem is immaturity. Immaturity in mind and immaturity to be able to comprehend management processes.

Even PM Prayut sometimes displays signs of immaturity and I don't say that unkindly. It seems to exhibit itself frequently in Thai men so maybe it is just a normal characteristic. In PM Prayut's case over-indulgent displays of vainglory only seems to add to that impression.

[Srikcir]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

The government addressed the problem by issuing an order delaying enforcement of the new Migrant Worker Royal Ordinance for six months.

Might as well repeal the law now (if necessary use Art. 44) and wait until something more practical can be presented to the NLA.

[stephen tracy]

7 hours ago, Cadbury said:

I sense that a large part of the problem is immaturity. Immaturity in mind and immaturity to be able to comprehend management processes.

Even PM Prayut sometimes displays signs of immaturity and I don't say that unkindly. It seems to exhibit itself frequently in Thai men so maybe it is just a normal characteristic. In PM Prayut's case over-indulgent displays of vainglory only seems to add to that impression.

Only sometimes?