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Labourers are demanding that the daily minimum wage be raised again by May Day, otherwise they say they are going to camp outside Government House. They also called for better healthcare under the social-welfare scheme and a new law that would ensure the basic rights of employees who work at home. The Labour Ministry has mostly kept silent over the labourers' demands, saying the matter depends on the outcome of the negotiation of the Tripartite Wage Committee.

Are the demands of the daily-wage earners justified? Common sense tells us that they are. The big question is how large the increase should be.

Last year, labour unions demanded that the daily minimum wage be increased by Bt9 to Bt200. In the end they only got a Bt3 raise, which has been in effect since January of this year. The daily minimum wage in Bangkok and neighbouring provinces is now Bt194, and at that level Thai labourers are finding it difficult to make ends meet.

China can no longer claim an advantage over Thailand in terms of labour costs. The daily minimum wage in China now stands at Bt192, compared with Bt67.5 for Vietnam. China has also strengthened its labour laws to benefit workers.

As we all know, inflation, particularly food inflation, has been rising sharply in Thailand and across Asia as a result of energy and food shortages. The global oil price is now hovering above US$100 (Bt3,140) a barrel. The price of domestic rice has doubled. The price of pork has jumped from Bt70 to Bt80 per kilo to Bt120 per kilo. The price of other basic necessities, including the cost of transport and clothing, has also gone up like crazy. Low-income earners won't survive this runaway inflation.

At one extreme, a proposal from labour advocates has called for an increase of the daily minimum wage to Bt233. Their argument is based on the assumption that part-time workers for government agencies are earning Bt7,700 a month. If this rate is divided by 30 days, it equals around Bt256, which is higher than the rate they have proposed. In one respect this comparison is inappropriate since part-time government workers have diplomas.

Korn Chatikavanij of the Democrat Party has been following the minimum wage issue closely and he believes Bt198 is an acceptable daily wage and that it would keep Thai labourers moving forward.

There are about 500,000 workers throughout Thailand earning the minimum wage. However, once the daily minimum wage is raised, the wages of other more skilled workers will increase in tandem.

Cab drivers in Bangkok have also proposed an increase to their minimum fares. They would like to increase the minimum meter charge to Bt40 from the current Bt35.

Civil servants and employees of state enterprises received a pay increase of 4 per cent in the last round of salary hikes. The government is now working out figures for additional salary increases. This pay hike might be implemented across the board for all civil servants or only for more senior bureaucrats, those from C1 to C6 for instance. However, Finance Minister Surapong Suebwonglee has admitted that the budget is pretty tight, allowing little room for further salary hikes for civil servants.

The Samak government has already offered handouts to the business sector by introducing its tax-stimulus package. Businessmen, real-estate developers and SME owners are quite happy with this package. There are some populist policies for rural people. But labourers have so far received nothing in the face of crazy inflation. Thai consumers, around 30 million of them, have also had to deal with an increase in their cost of living.

And what is the Samak government doing now? Well, the government MPs are only interested in rewriting the Constitution to protect their own heads.