Fund to aid employers planned
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The Labour Ministry wants to expand the social security scheme to help companies retain workers during crises like recessions or natural calamities, including flooding.
“Under the scheme, disaster-hit employers can continue to pay their workers at lower rates, without laying them off permanently, while securing soft loans to salvage and continue their business,” Songsri Bunma, deputy permanent secretary, said yesterday.
Permanent secretary Somkiat Chayawong said a permanent fund under the social security scheme would be set up to prevent massive layoffs of workers while absorbing some of the cost burden on employers.
This would let disaster-affected businesses recover more quickly, he said.
Songsri said she would discuss the proposal with the International Labour Organisation at a meeting on November 29, before reporting back to Somkiat.
According to the ministry’s initial study, Sweden, Canada, Germany and Japan already have such funds, with contributions from employers and employees at various rates and – in most cases – from the government as well.
The Employment Department has prepared a Bt5.25-million budget to feed and care for about 8,000 flood-affected migrant workers living at several shelters in Ratchaburi.
The money covers three meals a day, bottled water and bedding for a 40-day period, director-general Prawit Khiangphol said.
About 2,000 migrant workers at the shelters are transitory, staying and leaving for various reasons. Many are illegal, which prompts them to run away after a few days for fear of repatriation, he said.
