Workers, bosses get fiscal relief-焊接网

"Nearly 100,gabion baskets,000 workers at the Nava Nakorn Industrial Estate are faced with this problem."

The QIAOSHI's Military Barriers or Hesco Bastions is a modern gabion used for flood control and military fortification. It is made of a collapsible wire mesh container and heavy duty fabric liner, and used as a temporary to semi-permanent dike or barrier against blast or small-arms. One of the less heralded life- and labor-saving devices of war, it is used on nearly every United States Military base in Iraq as well as on NATO bases in Afghanistan.

Somkiat Chayasriwong, permanent secretary for labour and SSF chairman, yesterday said the cut will be applied on contributions from both employers and employees to ease their financial burden in the wake of the flood crisis.

Some employers lured workers into resigning from their jobs during flooding by claiming that voluntary resignation would guarantee their re-employment in the future.

Thirty-one enterprises have laid off nearly 10,000 people and 11 more companies are likely to follow suit by laying off another 2,UTCC Q1 growth hinges on post-flood measures-Gabions,600 workers.

Military Barriers/Hesco Bastions

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Mr Somkiat said more than 14,000 workplaces remain flooded. These factories employ more than 660,000 workers.

The operators who are eligible for the loans must employ workers who have been members of the SSF for at least three months. They can seek the loans through three banks _ Krung Thai Bank, Government Savings Bank and Islamic Bank of Thailand.

Its in the bag

Volunteers and staff from Unilever Thailand help pack relief bags at the Thai-Japanese stadium in Din Daeng yesterday. More than 300,000 bags,Floods Factories reopening-hesco bastion, worth about 100 million baht, contain items produced by the company to be donated to flood victims under a campaign called Unilever TakeUHome. THITI WANNAMONTHA

The concern is serious for workers at the Saha Rattana Nakorn Industrial Estate in Ayutthaya and the Nava Nakorn Industrial Estate in Pathum Thani as the compounds still remain at least one metre under water. There are more than 400 factories in both industrial estates but operators are still unable to salvage their plants and employment concerns have arisen for more than 170,000 people who worked there.

They said that some employers paid them 50% to 75% of their salaries during the flooding, but other employers had laid off workers.

Employment will drop both in production and service sectors. Impacts are relatively serious on self-employed people, sub-contractor and daily workers.

Operators with up to 50 employees can borrow up to one million baht each. Those with 51-200 workers may borrow up to 2 million baht and those with 201 employees or more can borrow up to 4 million baht.

Meanwhile,焊接网, workers of flooded factories especially in Ayutthaya and Pathum Thani province are concerned about their job security because they wonder if their employers can resume running their businesses. However, authorities expect the flood impact on employment to be short-lived.

The Social Security Fund has decided to cut the contributions of flood-affected employers and workers to the fund and lend money at low fixed interest rates to struggling business operators next year.

The Labour Ministry will seek cabinet approval for it to issue regulations detailing the assistance under the scheme, Mr Somkiat said.

Suthasinee Kaeoleklai, labour relief coordinator in Ayutthaya and nearby provinces, said workers at flooded industrial estates were in deep trouble because they lived in rented rooms while local administrators gave relief bags only to people with house registrations in their areas.

The office said the unemployment rate will rise to 1.8-2.3% in the last quarter of this year,Bangkok flooding passes critical point PM-gabion, equivalent to 730,000 to 920,000 people compared with 0.7% during the past three quarters.

Many workers gathered at the entrance of the Nava Nakorn Industrial Estate in Khlong Luang district of Pathum Thani yesterday to inquire about the status of their workplaces. They are uncertain if their factories will resume production and if they will still be employed.

Production halts have also taken place at industrial estates that face flood risks in Bangkok. The situation affects about 380,000 workers in the three provinces. The flooding this year also affected 600,000 foreign workers in deluge-hit provinces as a whole.

Originally designed for use on beaches and marshes for erosion and flood control, the Hesco Bastion quickly became a popular security device in the 1990s.

The government will maintain its contribution to the fund at the equivalent of 2.75% of employees' salaries.

As they are ineligible to receive relief bags, the workers do not have enough food to eat while their salaries were cut during the flooding.

The SSF will also provide loans worth 10 billion baht to boost the liquidity of flood-affected business operators.

The Office of the National Economic and Social Development Board said medium- and large-scale industries in Ayutthaya and Pathum Thani have suspended production since Oct 8. They make high-technology products, automobiles and electronic products.

The loans will be available from Jan 1 next year with 3% interest fixed for three years for borrowers with collateral and 5% interest fixed for three years for borrowers without collateral.

"Actually the voluntary resignation deprives the workers of unemployment compensation,Bridge Protection Systems," Ms Suthasinee said.