Workers demand immediate and nationwide daily minimum wage hike

BANGKOK, February 28 (TNA) - Over 1,000 workers rallied at the Royal Plaza in Bangkok Tuesday, demanding that the Thai government raise their daily minimum wages to 300 baht equally nationwide, claiming that the costs of living in other provinces are not lower than those in major cities, and that employers raise wages in according to workers' skills and years of experiences. The workers, who are members of several local employees’ organizations, were protesting against a Thai Cabinet resolution to first raise the daily minimum wages to 300 baht only in seven provinces as of April 1, 2012; while those in other provinces will only be increased by about 40 per cent initially, before being raised to 300 baht a day early next year. The protesting workers then marched from the Royal Plaza to nearby Government House to submit their written demands to Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. Chalee Loysung, Chair of the Thai Labour Solidarity Committee, insisted that the daily minimum wages needs to be raised to 300 baht nationwide at once for fairness because the costs of living in other provinces are not much lower, echoing his disagreement with the Cabinet resolution to postpone the daily minimum wage hike to 300 baht in other 70 Thai provinces to January 1, 2013. Chalee also expressed his disagreement with the National Wage Committee’s resolution that, after the daily minimum wages increase, the new wages will be frozen over the next few years, claiming that the policy is not in line with the rising costs of living and demanding that the prime minister review the policy. The local workers' leader proposed, instead, that after the 300-baht wage hike, local employers adjust their wage structures to fairly raise the wages of skilled and long-serving workers to prevent problems in their organizations and urged Thai labour authorities to be open-minded and dependable for local workers. (TNA)