ID :
196173
Thu, 07/21/2011 - 06:45
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/196173
The shortlink copeid
New Thai government urged to review wage hike policy
BANGKOK, July 21 (TNA) - The local private sector has reiterated its calls on the incoming coalition Thai government, led by the Pheu Thai Party, to review its policy on a new wage hike to 300 baht in all areas across the country, threatening mass layoffs, otherwise.
Payungsak Chartsutthiphol, Chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), told reporters after a special meeting of the country's Joint Private Committee, comprising the FTI, the Thai Chamber of Commerce and the Thai Bankers' Association, in Bangkok on Wednesday that the three key Thai private institutions had discussed impacts on the proposed wage surge and agreed to immediately submit a letter calling for the review of the new wage hike plan once the new Pheu Thai Party-led administration takes office in the coming weeks.
Payungsak insisted that the new Thai government reconsider the policy to ensure a balanced survival among local workers, private entrepreneurs and consumers, warning that the daily wage hike to 300 baht on par across the country would adversely affect the national macroeconomic system.
The FTI chief proposed, instead, that the new wage hike be in accordance with the market mechanism and the country's Joint Private Committee's resolution without any political interference, or the new Thai government shoulder the disparity between its benchmarked 300-baht daily wage and market rates in different areas, as an official compensation to the local private employers.
According to the FTI's recent survey, some 60-70 per cent of local entrepreneurs who had been questioned said that the proposed 300-baht daily wage hike, if implemented, would moderately to seriously affect their businesses; while the majority, or some 85 per cent, of the respondents, acknowledged that they would be forced to lay off some 15 per cent of their workers and to then raise their prices of products by some 10 per cent on average.
Meanwhile, Dusit Nontanakorn, Chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, warned that the proposed wage surge would seriously affect small-scaled private firms, in particular, reduce Thailand's business competitiveness and cause mass relocations of local manufacturers to neighbouring economies with cheaper labour costs resulting in a plunge in investment in the Thai economy worth a total of some 100 billion annually. (TNA)
Payungsak Chartsutthiphol, Chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), told reporters after a special meeting of the country's Joint Private Committee, comprising the FTI, the Thai Chamber of Commerce and the Thai Bankers' Association, in Bangkok on Wednesday that the three key Thai private institutions had discussed impacts on the proposed wage surge and agreed to immediately submit a letter calling for the review of the new wage hike plan once the new Pheu Thai Party-led administration takes office in the coming weeks.
Payungsak insisted that the new Thai government reconsider the policy to ensure a balanced survival among local workers, private entrepreneurs and consumers, warning that the daily wage hike to 300 baht on par across the country would adversely affect the national macroeconomic system.
The FTI chief proposed, instead, that the new wage hike be in accordance with the market mechanism and the country's Joint Private Committee's resolution without any political interference, or the new Thai government shoulder the disparity between its benchmarked 300-baht daily wage and market rates in different areas, as an official compensation to the local private employers.
According to the FTI's recent survey, some 60-70 per cent of local entrepreneurs who had been questioned said that the proposed 300-baht daily wage hike, if implemented, would moderately to seriously affect their businesses; while the majority, or some 85 per cent, of the respondents, acknowledged that they would be forced to lay off some 15 per cent of their workers and to then raise their prices of products by some 10 per cent on average.
Meanwhile, Dusit Nontanakorn, Chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, warned that the proposed wage surge would seriously affect small-scaled private firms, in particular, reduce Thailand's business competitiveness and cause mass relocations of local manufacturers to neighbouring economies with cheaper labour costs resulting in a plunge in investment in the Thai economy worth a total of some 100 billion annually. (TNA)
