Pipat” responded to the question, insisting on moving forward with the adjustment of the minimum wage, but must start with the L-size business first, then gradually move on to SMEs, fearing the entire system will fail. Denied acting on the meeting date that was canceled on 20 Sep. Asked back what would happen if the vote was passed, and urged all parties to talk to the BOT to reduce interest rates to help reduce costs.
The House of Representatives meeting was chaired by Mr. Wan Muhammanor Matha, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to consider the question raised by Mr. Sia Champathong, MP of the Prachachon Party, to the Minister of Labor.
Mr. Sear mentioned the adjustment of the minimum wage to 600 baht by 2027, which is the government’s flagship policy. He was pleased that the Minister of Labor was determined to increase the wage. However, in the past 11 years, there have been announcements to adjust the minimum wage
by an average of 2 to 2.26 baht. On May 1, 2024, Mr. Anutin Charnvirakul, Deput
y Prime Minister who oversees the Ministry of Labor, announced that the minimum wage nationwide would be adjusted to 400 baht on October 1. The Prime Minister also announced that the minimum wage would be adjusted by October 1 as well. This gave hope to the people nationwide and this hope was poured out. Until September 16, the meeting to adjust the minimum wage did not have a quorum. On September 20, there was another meeting, but the meeting was canceled again because government representatives were missing, especially the Director-General of the Department of Labor Protection and Welfare. What was the matter? Why did he not attend the meeting? Or was it a sham? Including the representative from the Bank of Thailand. The reporter would like to ask if it was a sham. And ask if there is a determination to adjust the minimum wage to 400 baht and if it is adjusted, when will it be adjusted?
Mr. Pipat Ratchakitprakarn, Minister of Labor, explained and confirmed here that he intends to adjust the minimum wage to
400 baht on October 1st and he thinks that workers are well aware of the government’s intentions since the government of Mr. Settha Thavisin that they will push for the minimum wage to 600 baht by 2027. And when the government changes, even if the Prime Minister does not announce it, he confirms and intends to move forward.
As for the question of whether there was a play on September 16th, the employers did not attend the meeting, Mr. Pipat said that Mr. Sear must have known well that the tripartite meeting had 5 people from each side, with the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Labor as the chairman of the meeting. If any side was absent, and the number of attendees was not 2/3, the meeting could not be opened and voted. Therefore, on September 16th, as far as I know, the employers did not attend the meeting. On September 20th, another meeting was invited, but the number of attendees was not complete. This is beyond my control or enforcement, because the Minister of Labor cannot interfere and sit in the
meeting room. Therefore, I cannot even enter into negotiations, because the minister cannot interfere with the minimum wage increase. On that day, all 5 employers were present, 2 employees were absent, a representative of the Bank of Thailand was absent, and the Director-General of the Department of Welfare, who is the representative of the Ministry of Labor, asked for leave. It can be said that it was a technicality. If there was a meeting that day, I believe that we would not be able to vote. But if there was a vote that day, if the employers confirmed their opposition, all 5 of us, if we were all there, Apart from one representative from the Bank of Thailand not showing up, I would like to ask which group will be damaged, which I do not want to say here because it is certain that employers will not want to increase wages no matter what because of the current economic situation in Thailand. We all know.
Mr. Pipat also said that what increases the cost for employers is the unreasonably high interest rate on
top of the inflation rate. He thought that there were many parties in the government trying to negotiate with the Bank of Thailand to see if it was possible to reduce the interest rate to help employers. The Bank of Thailand has been citing that household debt is very high all the time. He did not argue, but asked who commercial banks and state-owned banks can lend to today. We have already seen that used car dealerships are always closing down and seizing cars to put in parking lots for auctions. Therefore, he did not want to argue.
As for Mr. Sia, he asked about the case where it was stated that the Tripartite Committee could not intervene in the matter of adjusting the minimum wage, but in the past the minister had given an interview that he would adjust the minimum wage to 400 baht, was this considered an intervention? And the latest statement that he would increase the minimum wage for businesses with 200 or more employees.
Mr. Pipat insisted that he did not interfere. The interview was to provide a po
licy to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Labor to negotiate. If he interfered, it meant that he had to intervene or ask for time to speak before the Tripartite Committee meeting. As for the criteria for the 400 baht increase for businesses with more than 200 employees, it was because he took into account the economic situation, which did not want to affect medium and small businesses because they held more than 90 percent of the workforce in Thailand. Today, SMEs are barely surviving because the trade war is quite intense. Therefore, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Labor are looking for ways to not affect SMEs and how to find ways to help restore the financial status of SMEs so that they are strong and can move forward to support the next wage adjustment. Because if they do and announce it at this time, it is certain that there will be hundreds of thousands or hundreds of thousands of friends who are workers who will be out of work. He would not be ready to take on that much responsibili
ty. Therefore, he would like to ask for help from MPs who work in the labor sector. They must know well where the most suitable point is.
Mr. Pipat said that if we adjust in the business sector with more than 200 employees, there will be approximately 2,290,000 people who will benefit, with more than 1,700,000 Thai workers benefiting and the rest being foreign workers. However, the cost on the employer side will be affected, with an estimated 72 baht and 78 satang per person. If you ask if we shift this burden to SMEs, and if SMEs fail, the responsibility must lie with the Ministry of Labor, because you are making blanket announcements. But if we announce size L first and then we restore the status of SMEs, when the status of SMEs can move forward, we will continue to talk about SMEs, but it does not mean that SMEs this year will not have a minimum wage increase. We have a policy that at the end of the year and into 2568, we will announce the minimum wage specifically for SMEs again, according to the informa
tion that the tripartite in each province has sent to the ministry.
Mr. Sier asked the third question about the promise the Minister made to the people that he would definitely increase the minimum wage through the mechanism of the tripartite committee to 600 baht in 2027. Therefore, he would like the Minister to tell the timeline for the minimum wage adjustment from today until 2027. Can you tell us how the minimum wage will be adjusted in each period until it reaches 600 baht? This will allow the people, laborers, and business owners to prepare themselves mentally and physically for both positive and negative effects.
The Minister of Labor said that to talk about the timeline, we have to look at the status of the entrepreneurs and the state of the economy, which may not reach 600 baht, but there will be progress in adjusting the minimum wage rate, where all parties can survive. He asked us to help each other in discussing with the Bank of Thailand about reducing the cost of interest for businesses because
if there is a suitable interest cost, he believes that when the cost can be reduced, announcing an increase in the minimum wage will be an equation that we can follow. When capitalists or entrepreneurs have lower costs, they can increase the minimum wage for workers. Therefore, next time, he would like the honorable members after we have announced the minimum wage at 400 baht, to invite me to answer again. I am ready to answer at this forum.
Source: Thai News Agency