Thailand ups minimum wage as firms struggle with floods


Flooding has killed at least 307 people since late July, damaged large areas of farmland and closed half a dozen huge industrial estates this month at a potential cost of 1.7 percent of gross domestic product.At a meeting of a tripartite wage committee on Monday, employers were outvoted by government and worker representatives and a minimum daily wage of 300 baht ($9.70) was set for Bangkok and six other relatively well-off provinces, an increase of about 40 percent.However, the start date has been pushed back from Jan 1.”This will be effective on April 1, 2012 because of the flooding,” Labour Ministry permanent secretary Somkiat Chayasriwong told reporters.The rest of Thailand’s 77 provinces will also get a rise of 40 percent, but that will leave the minimum below 300 baht.A rise in the minimum wage to a uniform 300 baht around the country was one of the main policies of the party of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra in July’s election. It would have meant an increase of 90 percent in some poorer areas.A 300 baht daily wage is five times higher than the minimum in Vietnam and 2.5-4.6 times that in Indonesia, according to Kasikorn Research Center. A rice-based meal for one person costs about 37 baht from a Bangkok street-vendor.Former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, brother of Yingluck and seen by many as the person really running the government from self-imposed exile in Dubai, had argued for the full increase to go ahead.”If you think it will cost businesses more, slashing their profitability, that is the one-dimensional view,” he told the Bangkok Post in an interview published on Monday. “But for me, the policy will reallocate resources in society and is also a good way to boost productivity.”He saw a rise as part of the government’s aim of “rebalancing society,” after a destabilizing political crisis that has pitted the rural and urban poor, who largely back Thaksin, against Thailand’s traditional elites over the past six years.Yingluck’s Puea Thai Party broadly represents the rural and urban working classes.Thailand’s minimum wage has risen by an average of 2.3 percent a year over the past 10 years but annual inflation has averaged 2.8 percent over the same period, according to the National Economic and Social Development Board.FLEXIBLE CENTRAL BANKThe wage rise will add to the central bank’s dilemma at its rate review on Wednesday. Core inflation is near 3 percent, the top of its target range, but the economy is under threat from both the floods and a slowdown in Western export markets.”We reckon the central bank will err on the side of caution and keep rates unchanged this week. The odds of a cut remain low given upside risks to inflationary expectations from pro-growth subsidies and the wage hike,” said economist Radhika Rao at Forecast PTE in Singapore.That is the consensus view. The policy rate has almost tripled to 3.50 percent in the past 15 months.After a meeting between officials and business leaders to discuss the floods on Monday, the central bank said it was ready to be flexible on monetary policy.”Before the floods, our economy was growing close to its potential. We have to look at how far monetary policy can be flexible,” Governor Prasarn Trairatvorakul said.To help pay for the recovery effort, the government could raise the planned budget deficit by 14 percent to 400 billion baht ($13 billion) for the year from October 1.The Finance Ministry has cut its gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast for this year to 3.7 percent from 4.0 percent.It would be even lower if Bangkok, which accounts for 41 percent of GDP, is hit by floods.Monsoon rain, high tides and water flowing down from reservoirs in the north had threatened the capital at the weekend but its defensive system of dikes and canals held.However, provinces north of Bangkok have been devastated and a series of industrial parks have had to close.On Monday, the government asked firms at the Nava Nakorn estate north of Bangkok to halt operations. It has 270 plants with about 270,000 workers. ($1 = 30.780 baht)

Rich world economic malaise to endure into 2012: Reuters poll


After a promising start, 2011 has turned into an enormous disappointment for major rich world economies, which have been hobbled by a noxious combination of austerity, debt crises, natural disaster and political impasse.Backed up by Thursday’s weak trade figures from China, which pointed to profound global economic weakness, the October quarterly survey suggested a bout of weak growth in many G7 economies could extend deep into next year and beyond.The world economy will grow 3.8 percent in 2011, the poll showed, and just 3.6 percent next year — a stark contrast to the 4.1 percent and 4.3 percent forecasts from the last quarterly survey in July.But even these tepid growth rates could depend on progress in clearing some of the world’s biggest economic hurdles, like the euro zone sovereign debt crisis and finding ways to boost growth in the United States.”Rarely has the economic outlook been so sensitive to the decisions of politicians on both sides of the Atlantic,” said Peter Hooper, chief economist at Deutsche Bank Securities, in a research note.”Whether it is the complexities of reaching unanimous agreement among 17 euro area members regarding the resolution of the sovereign debt crisis, or the increasingly polarized U.S. political scene, political risk may be the greatest source of shocks to the global economy today.”Euro zone officials on Wednesday indicated they were willing to take at least a small step forward in plans to avert a potentially catastrophic Greek sovereign debt default, by asking banks to accept losses of up to 50 percent on Greek debt holdings.In the United States, the Senate defeated President Barack Obama’s job creation package in a sign that Washington may be too paralyzed to take major steps to spur the labor market before the 2012 elections.CANADA BLOOMS, ITALY WILTSCanada should see some of the strongest rates of growth compared with its G7 peers this year and next.Although the outlook for growth has darkened in common with other major markets, its healthy banking sector and commodity-driven economy should give it an edge, with growth of around 2.2 percent seen this year and 2.4 percent in 2012.But Italy, racked by political fighting, austerity measures and market fears about its ability to finance its debt, looks set to linger in recession well into next year, and will miss government fiscal targets.U.S. economic growth looks likely to pick up slightly by year-end, although analysts also reined in their expectations and there is a one-in-three chance the world’s biggest economy will enter recession.”We’ve stepped back from the abyss, the data that we’re getting suggests certainly the economy isn’t in freefall as yet,” said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James.The euro zone faces a 40 percent chance of another recession as fears mount that the debt crisis will escalate further.Analysts expect the 17-nation currency bloc to post economic growth of just 0.9 percent next year, after 1.6 percent in 2011.”Leading indicators point to weaker economic conditions. Sentiment surveys have deteriorated across key sectors of the euro zone economy, against a backdrop of unusually high uncertainty and financial market tensions,” said Ken Wattret at BNP Paribas.Japan, forced into recession by the March earthquake and tsunami, saw its economic outlook downgraded for a fourth consecutive month thanks partly to the escalating euro zone debt crisis.”Japan’s exports are seen weakening in October-December due to the economic slowdown in Europe and the U.S., which would affect corporations’ capital spending,” said Yuichi Kodama, chief economist at Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance.Still, poll respondents predicted growth will pick up to 2.2 percent over the 2012-2013 fiscal year.(Polling by Reuters Polls Bangalore, Additional reporting and polling by reporters in bureaux in London, New York, Toronto, Paris, Rome, Tokyo, Berlin; Editing by Catherine Evans)

UPDATE 2-Ford Chicago UAW local rejects contract-official


* GM workers ratified their contract in late Sept.By Bernie WoodallDETROIT, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Workers at a key Ford Motor Co plant in Chicago overwhelmingly rejected a four-year contract proposed by the company and the United Auto Workers, a local union official said on Thursday.It was the second big Ford plant to reject the deal and the 77 percent margin throws into jeopardy the ratification of the Ford pact for the 41,000 UAW-represented production workers, said Scott Houldieson, secretary-treasurer of UAW Local 551.Workers at U.S. Ford plants vote through Oct. 18 on the proposed deal that Ford’s head of global manufacturing, John Fleming, said would “improve our competitiveness here in the United States” as well as offer a fair deal for workers to share in the company’s success.Fleming made his comments last week when the UAW and Ford reached agreement on the tentative contract now being voted on by the rank-and-file.Of the 2,317 Chicago Assembly Plant workers casting ballots, more than three-quarters voted to reject the proposed deal, Houldieson said.Workers at the Chicago plant make up more than 6 percent of the No. 2 automakers’ 41,000 UAW-represented workers.The tentative Ford contract calls for profit-sharing and signing bonuses rather than wage increases for veteran workers, who have not received a wage hike since 2003.Earlier this week, UAW Local 900, where 2,582 workers voted from three plants including Michigan Assembly in Wayne, Michigan, 51 percent voted to reject the proposed contract. On Tuesday, the UAW said that with about 7 percent of the overall vote counted, the ratification tally was running nearly 50-50.Houldieson said he could not predict the outcome of the overall vote but said the margin in Chicago makes him believe that the “no” votes are now ahead in the current count.”Michigan Assembly voted ‘no’ by a slim margin,” said Houldieson. “If they get other plants to vote yes by small margins, then our vote definitely will tip the scales.”Houldieson said that he had heard from workers that they did not like the lack of a cost-of-living allowance in the contract and the continuation of a two-tier pay scale.The proposed contract would raise newer workers who make “second-tier” wages of just over half that of veteran production workers, to $19.28 per hour over several years. But that would still leave the second-tier workers at 70 percent of the $28.12-per-hour pay of veteran workers, which was not enough for many voters, Houldieson said.UAW President Bob King said on Wednesday that he expects ratification of the contract at both Ford and Chrysler. He said the union pushed for the best deal under difficult economic circumstances and that if the UAW is successful in organizing U.S. plants of Japanese, Korean and German automakers, it would have more power to fight for higher pay and benefits.General Motors Co workers in late September ratified their new four-year contract, which is slightly less generous than the proposed Ford pact.On Wednesday, Chrysler Group LLC and the UAW reached a tentative deal that is less generous than GM’s contract. UAW officials said that Chrysler’s 26,000 UAW-represented workers will hold ratification votes over the next two weeks.

Wind, solar farm finance at record in Q3-report


* Wind, solar more cost-competitive with fossil fuelsLONDON, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Wind farm and solar park financing surged to a record $41.8 billion in the third quarter, even though clean energy share prices and the European economy slumped, a report by research firm Bloomberg New Energy Finance said on Thursday.Asset financing of utility-scale renewable energy projects was 27 percent lower in the third quarter last year at $33 billion.The increase in financing was mainly driven by offshore wind investment. Three large offshore wind farms in the North Sea totalled more than 1 gigawatt in capacity and $6.3 billion in investment.There were also large financings for photovoltaic (PV), solar thermal and biofuel projects in the United States, a geothermal plant in Indonesia and onshore wind projects in Brazil and China, the report said.”Over the past three years we have seen extraordinary falls in the prices of clean energy equipment — wind turbines and solar photovoltaic panels. As these figures show, this has driven up installation rates and asset investment levels,” Michael Liebreich, chief executive of Bloomberg New Energy Finance, said in a statement.”However, there is still not enough demand to soak up significant over-supply, so prices and margins have remained under pressure and manufacturers’ share prices are being crushed,” he added.The average price of PV modules has fallen by a third since autumn 2010 and by 70 percent since mid-2008, while wind turbine prices have fallen by 20 percent since 2009, the report showed.This has made renewable energy technologies more cost-competitive with fossil fuel power sources but have been painful for supply chains.However, renewable energy stocks have lagged fossil fuel energy and wider global stocks over the past few months and the year to date, underperforming as world shares slid on concerns about slow global economic growth.Wind power shares have fallen sharply as the risk of further fiscal tightening weighed on a sector which depends on government support.Overall new investment in clean energy — including asset finance, equity raisings on public markets and venture capital and private equity — was $45.5 billion in the third quarter, up 16 percent on Q3 2010, the report said.In the third quarter, merger and acquisition activity in the clean energy sector rose 59 percent to $25.9 billion from Q3 2010.Large acquisition deals in the past three months included EDF’s purchase of 50 percent of its renewable energy arm EDF Energies Nouvelles for $7.9 billion and Toshiba’s takeover of Swiss electronic metering firm Landis+Gyr for $2.3 billion.

Jury told that man aided in gruesome Connecticut murders


Defense attorneys for Joshua Komisarjevsky, who is charged with murder, arson and sexual assault, have tried to shift blame on the alleged accomplice, Steven Hayes, who was found guilty last year of similar charges and sentenced to death.Jennifer Hawke-Petit and daughters Michaela, 11, and Hayley, 17, died in the 2007 attack in Cheshire, Connecticut. The only survivor, Dr. William Petit, was badly beaten and bound but managed to escape as the house was set on fire.”There was no way Hayes committed those crimes alone,” state’s attorney Gary Nicholson said in a 90-minute closing statement. “Hayley and Michaela knew they were going to die a horrible, painful death. And what did this defendant do to stop it? He did absolutely nothing.”He said Komisarjevsky intended for the family to burn in a fire set by him and Hayes.Like Hayes, Komisarjevsky, if convicted, faces the possibility of a death sentence. Of the 17 charges against him, six have a maximum penalty of death.The defense tried to portray Hayes as wanting to murder the family and Komisarjevsky as protesting against killing anyone.Komisarjevsky confessed to police but did not intend for anyone to die, defense attorney Jeremiah Donovan said in his statement.Donovan asked jury members to keep emotion out of their deliberations. “You have more power than the president. You have the power to have someone die,” he said.The case was expected to go to the jury on Wednesday.Komisarjevsky sat in court, dressed in a dark suit. His parents were seated in a row behind him.Petit sat in the front row closest to the jury, surrounded by family and supporters. His head was bowed as he listened to Nicholson describe the deaths of his wife and daughters.The prosecutor took the jury through the events of July 23, 2007 when he said Komisarjevsky spotted Michaela Petit shopping in a grocery store and made her his target.”He was interested in her the moment he saw her. The fact they had a nice car, house made her a more attractive target,” the prosecutor said.Prosecutors say Komisarjevsky and Hayes broke into the Petit home at about 2:30 a.m. The doctor, who testified at both trials, said he was beaten and bound in the basement.About 9 a.m., Hawke-Petit drove to a bank, where she told a teller her family was being held hostage and she needed $15,000 to pay off the captors.A bank manager called police but when authorities arrived at the Petit home, it was engulfed in flames. The police have been criticized as being slow to respond.Petit testified that he managed to free his hands and hop up steps out of the basement. He fell and finally rolled across the lawn to a neighbor’s house for help.In the burning house were the girls, who died of smoke inhalation, and the body of Hawke-Petit, who had been raped and strangled. The younger girl had been sexually assaulted.Earlier in the day, defense attorneys unsuccessfully sought a delay in the case after discovering letters Hayes wrote to a woman in which they said he wrote that he had killed 17 women.Hayes would have killed Komisarjevsky if the two had escaped, the defense said.Connecticut has only executed one person, in 2005, since the death penalty was reinstated in the United States in 1976, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.