Since Thaksin’s public address last night it seems that the world, or at least Thailand, is in big trouble. That’s if business owners are to be believed anyway.

One of the initiatives Thaksin hopes to implement is to increase the minimum daily wage by 6 Baht ($0.14US) from the woefully inadequate amount of 175 Baht ($4.18US). The increase would be applied to anyone earning less than 15,000 Baht a month. Unfortunately, this has gotten some business owners into quite a state, claiming that the additional cost will mean ‘massive lay-offs’. It has even been said that employees should ask if their company can afford to give them such an exhorbitant pay increase.

All of this is ignoring the fact that 6 Baht is a lot less than is being asked for (you didn’t think Thaksin would be proactive did you?). Employees are actually wanting a minimum wage per day of 233 Baht ($5.59US).

I’m just stunned at the greed of Thai companies that they would begrudge their employees, especially the ones earning the minimum wage, a pay increase. I mean, it’s 6 Baht! They need a reality check!