Apprentices to get Bt300 wage, help for smes under law changes

“What companies are paying students now for on-the-job training doesn’t reflect the high cost of living,” Somkiat Chayasriwong, permanent secretary of the Labour Ministry, said yesterday.
However, Somkiat, who chairs the Central Wage Committee, did not say when the tripartite panel would amend the law.
The panel would also study certain types of work or occupations to detect conditions unfair to employees and will discuss them once they are identified, he said.
Employers should not try to include welfare and other benefits in the Bt300 wage, or they would be forced to pay back wages and could be imprisoned and/or fined.
To help SMEs with their higher costs due to the Bt300 wage, they will be allowed to deduct 1.5 times the difference in costs from their income taxes. They must show at least Bt30 million in revenue each year and registered capital of at least Bt5 million to take the deduction.
Other measures to help employers are soft loans to buy new machinery, a 100-per-cent tax deduction on the cost of new machinery instead of the usual depreciation, and tax-free treatment on the income from the sale of old machinery.
There is money left over in the Bt10 billion fund for business development.
The fund would be increased if lenders keep submitting loan requests.
A group of cleaners working at the ministry lodged a complaint over their wages. One had not yet been given Bt300. She now receives only Bt230 even after an extra Bt15 was paid to her and 20 co-workers.
Somkiat said he was unaware of this issue but would talk with the company that hired the cleaners.