Street rallies Wednesday at foreign embassies

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MINIMUM WAGE

Foreign firms' workers to rally at embassies

Published: 13 Mar 2013 at 00.00
Newspaper section: News

Thai workers will rally at the embassies of the US, Australia and the Netherlands in Bangkok Wednesday to protest against layoffs and alleged unfair employment practices by companies from those countries which employ Thais here.

Chalee Loysung, chairman of the Thai Labour Solidarity Committee, told reporters Tuesday about the rallies. He said foreign companies changed employment conditions and laid off workers following the minimum wage increase that took effect in January.

Mr Chalee said the companies have been treating employees unfairly.

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robins
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Discussion 9 : 13 Mar 2013 at 09.119
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"General Motors (Thailand) is also accused of changing its work schedules without employees' support." How dare they tell their employees when, where and how to do their jobs. It was this type of union mentality that nearly destroyed the American auto industry at home.
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pscheibli
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Discussion 8 : 13 Mar 2013 at 08.498
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...I am wondering how many of these workers did vote for Yingluck and her Party. They have introduced the minimum wage hike which is a heavy burden for many SME's in Thailand. Don't blame the Companies, blame the Government.
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dao
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Discussion 7 : 13 Mar 2013 at 08.407
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I think they should protest to PT .They are the ones who pushed this heavy handed policy .
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pquinlan
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Discussion 6 : 13 Mar 2013 at 08.246
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Go Chalee! I for one am waiting for your mass protest against Thai employers who are rorting the system even worse. Oh, wait ... ... ain't going to happen, is it?
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prhn
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Discussion 5 : 13 Mar 2013 at 08.235
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'Mr Chalee said several companies also demanded greater productivity.'

Unfortunately, in Thailand we need more workers to the same job that can be done in the west with fewer workers. That is not to say that the workers are lazy but they need to be more productive in the work that they do. Good management can help them achieve this.

To be able to offer higher wages, all businesses need to improve productivity to compensate for the higher costs.
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enquirer
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Discussion 4 : 13 Mar 2013 at 08.044
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Strange you put the wages up to 300 baht literally overnight and expect companies just to swollow this ?
Thailand is just too expensive. if I was a company and the wages went this high I would do exactly the same or even relocate.
The 300 baht decision and the law to allow everybody to now have credit has pushed inflation up to such an extent that Thailand is
no longer competitive. Added with that you now have a very strong baht, this must be having a devistating effect on exports.
I'm afraid this policy is wrong and it will ruin the country not just in exports but tourism too.
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djay
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Discussion 3 : 13 Mar 2013 at 07.273
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Six days a week at 8 hours a day. Now they are working 4 days a week at 12 hours a day. It's been a while since I took mathematics, but don't they both come out to 48 hours? And doesn't it say 'overtime'? Overtime as in time and a half. So how are they making less money?
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whatajoke
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Discussion 2 : 13 Mar 2013 at 07.172
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Technically, all these companies are majority Thai owned, so go protest outside your labour department. Employment is a simple supply and demand model, it's good that govt set a higher minimum wage but the employer has the choice to set a higher skills and productivity demand or else close down. A compromise and some re-tooling is probably best. I'm sure the US, Australian and Netherlands govt would rather bring those jobs home in the present economic climate. At least these workers have jobs and a cheaper country to live in, what they need is skills training to earn wages well above 300 baht per day.
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oldairman
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Discussion 1 : 13 Mar 2013 at 07.171
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Chalee Loysung, chairman of the Thai Labour Solidarity Committee, told reporters Tuesday about the rallies. He said foreign companies changed employment conditions and laid off workers following the minimum wage increase that took effect in January.
I suspect that many or most of the staff at the foreign companies receive more than the minimum wages anyway. Who owns any company, the employer or the union?
The unions in the UK were one reason that the is no real British car companies any more. Those that managed to survive are own by foreign companies, BMW, VW, Tata etc.
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Street rallies Wednesday at foreign embassies | Bangkok Post: news

Foreign firms' workers to rally at embassies

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