Bt15,000 pay plan 'unfair'

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Bt15,000 pay plan 'unfair'
The Nation 2011-09-10

The Civil Service Commission (CSC) has recommended the comprehensive salary restructure in the public sector if the government is going to enforce Bt15,000 salary for all bachelor'sdegree holders.

"It will not be fair if only the new recruits enjoy the higher pay rate," a source at the CSC said yesterday.

Presently, bachelor'sdegree holders who have joined the civil service are given Bt8,700 starting salary plus a living allowance of up to Bt1,500.

During its election campaign, the Pheu Thai Party promised Bt15,000 salary for all bachelor's degree holders. After it successfully formed the government, it instructed the Finance Ministry to work on a plan to give at least Bt15,000 salary to all civil servants.

While this plan will not increase the government's budget burden much, it clearly will be unfair to those joining the civil service before the new pay rate take effect. The move, if implemented, will mean thousands of civil servants with years of service will see the newcomers earning the same rate.

"The salary of all civil servants must be adjusted," the CSC source thus insisted, "The government must recognise work experiences of the current civil servants too".

It added that for the restructure of the civil servants' salary, the government must issue a royal decree or amend the 2008 Civil Servant Act.

The Federation of Teachers Association of Thailand suggested that the government increase the salary of all civil servants by an amount equivalent to the gap between the current starting salary and the new starting salary for the bachelors' degree holders.

"The concept is simple. The government should raise the salary for all civil servants (not just newcomers or those earning less than Bt15,000 a month)," the federation's secretary general Prawit Beungsai said.

A source said the Finance Ministry had also considered an option of giving the monthly income of Bt15,000, not the salary, to all bachelors' degree holders.

"This option will do away with the complications related to the government's contributions to the Government Pension Fund and military pension," it said.

Deputy Finance Minister Viroon Tejapaibul has recently disclosed that it was not yet concluded as to whether the Bt15,000 should be the salary or monthly income.

He, so far, tried to point out that procedures involved were going to be less complicated if the issue was about the monthly income.

Viroon said he expected this policy to take effect from January onward.

Ammar Siamwalla, former chair of the Thailand Development Research Institute, declined to comment on whether the government should honour this election policy of the Pheu Thai Party.

"But I must say that the salary of civil servants is not low if their welfare is also taken into account," he said.

Civil Service Association of Thailand president Jadoon Apichartbut expressed support for the higher pay for civil servants. So far, he said he was worried that the living cost might rise too.

"This is a concern of all civil servants," he said.