Police check
Police on April 8 examine customers’ ID cards during an inspection of nightspots near the University of Thai Chamber of Commerce on Vibhavadi Road in Bangkok as part of efforts to prevent underage drinking.
No increase
Minimum wage to stay the same
The Labour Ministry’s wage committee has decided to keep the daily minimum wage at 300 baht until the end of the year, authorities said on April 8.
Labour permanent secretary Nakhon Silpa-archa said the panel reviewed all relevant factors and decided to maintain the current rate until the end of the year. The committee would meet in May to discuss possible wage increases for next year.
The latest hike in the minimum daily wage, to 300 baht, took effect in April 2012 in Bangkok, and in all provinces in January 2013. Nakhon said a recent inspection revealed that 223 out of 12,229 workplaces had failed to comply with the minimum wage rule.
Rescue mission
Air force picks up fishermen
An air force C-130 cargo plane was sent to pick up 86 Thai fishery workers stranded on Indonesia’s Ambon Island. The plane left Wing 6 at Don Muang air base at 9 am on April 8, air force spokesman Monthol Satchukorn said on April 8.
On board were 22 military personnel, including medical staff from the Institute of Aviation Medicine.
Hundreds of Thai fishermen are believed to have escaped exploitative work on trawlers to take shelter on the island. A group of 21 workers returned from the Indonesian island last March with the help of Thai officials.
EASY NEWS FOR M1-3
Fatal crash
Four killed in accident
A van crashed into a tree. It happened in Kamphaeng Phet on April 8. Four Myanmar workers were killed. Seven others were injured and sent to a hospital. They were travelling from Bangkok to Tak.
Vocabulary
- underage (adj): not legally old enough to do a particular thing
exploitative (adj): treating somebody unfairly in order to gain an advantage or to make money
trawler (n): a fishing boat that uses large nets that it drags through the sea behind it
