The Yingluck Shinawatra government has come under fire for its failure to order employers to adopt the 300-baht minimum daily wage policy.
The criticism was made yesterday by labour rights advocates at a news conference announcing the number of unfair employment complaints resulting from the daily wage policy.
It was held at the Thai Labour Museum Foundation on Nikom Rotfai Makkasan Road in Bangkok.
In the first month after the new wage policy took effect on April 1, the Thai Labour Solidarity Committee, a labour rights and welfare non-governmental organisation, received 73 complaints about employers failing to increase pay.
Since then, the number of complaints has mushroomed to 5,134, according to tallies from the committee's eight complaint centres.
While the complaints keep piling up, the government, especially the Labour Ministry, has done nothing to look into the problem, treating it only as a conflict between employers and workers, committee head Chalee Loysung said.
The Labour Ministry, which could intervene, is only "floating above the problem" rather than providing help, said Yongyuth Mentaphao, chairman of the Thai Autoworkers Federation.
Workers in the auto parts production, hotel, transport and jewellery industries accounted for 2,380 complaints.
They claimed their wages have not been raised to the 300-baht notch, though their employers are required by law to increase their wages.
Other groups of workers also face similar problems, or worse conditions. The committee reported that 586 workers in the electronics, food, furniture and service sectors accused their employers of combining their welfare payments with daily wages to meet the minimum wage requirement.
Meanwhile, up to 2,168 workers, mostly in garment and clothing factories, have complained they encountered unpleasant changes in employment, including job transfers and a cut in fringe benefits.
Though the 300-baht wage policy aims to improve their finances, a number of workers now "don't know whether they should be happy or sad about the policy", said Mr Chalee.
The Labour Ministry found in a survey conducted last month that most small and medium-sized business owners were unhappy with the policy.
However, deputy chairwoman of the Thai Labour Solidarity Committee Wilaiwan sae Tia said employers "do not shoulder big burdens". They can apply for tax rebates on the money used to pay the higher wages, she said.