Opposition calls for Pheu Thai’s pledged 600-baht minimum wage

The opposition urged the implementation of the Pheu Thai Party’s promised 600-baht minimum wage while criticising the government’s labour policy for a perceived lack of initiatives to enhance labour skills.

Sia Jampathong, an MP from the People’s Party, highlighted these concerns during yesterday’s final day of a joint Parliament sitting. He noted that labour policy was conspicuously absent from the government’s list of 10 most urgent policies.

Sia emphasised that labour policy was a core promise of Pheu Thai’s election campaign, which included a minimum wage of 600 baht, a minimum salary of 25,000 baht for new graduates, and various forms of labour rights protection. He questioned whether these commitments were merely tactics to secure votes.

“Other than the 10,000-baht handout scheme, I haven’t seen the government fulfil any of its promises to the labour force. Have they forgotten or are they just being considerate towards capitalists?”

Sia criticised the current labour minister for what he described as a lack of action over the past year. He provided data indicating that 1,519 factories had closed down, resulting in 41,103 people losing their jobs.

“This is not something for any government that has pledged to create more jobs. In reality, many factories have been closing and workers laid off without proper compensation or protection.”

The People’s Party MP also pointed to a decline in labour union membership and criticised the lack of policies or activities to promote unions. Sia questioned Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra about the promised minimum wage increase. The minimum wage, which is supposed to be 400 baht nationwide, has been applied only to specific provinces and businesses.

“Every time there is criticism of the adjusted wage, the government blames the wage committee. But when there is praise, it claims it as its own achievement.”

Sahassawat Kumkong, another People’s Party MP, echoed these criticisms, stating that the government lacked a clear plan for developing labour skills to support emerging industries such as electric vehicles, semiconductors, and soft power industries, reported Bangkok Post.

Without proper planning and alignment between policies, budgets, and implementation, the development of labour skills could stall, leading to mass unemployment and a reliance on skilled foreign labour, he argued.