President of the Automobile Labour Congress of Thailand Mr. Manit Promkarikul spoke about how the opposition MPs said that people with over 500,000 Baht in their bank account would not be entitled to the “Section 33, we love each other” project. In this regard, the opposition MPs are inaccurate because today’s government is already pleasing the workforce. The Ministry of Labour has followed labour leaders since the beginning. Today (February 5, 2021), the Ministry of Labour invited 39 labour organizations to clarify their understanding of the rules and procedures to assist insured persons following the “Section 33, we love each other” project. Many labour organization leaders have echoed the project. Previously the government was asked that people with over 300,000 Baht in their bank account would not be eligible. But today, the government has set it that people with over 500,000 Baht in their accounts will not be eligible. The people are considered satisfied that the government has helped people get more benefits.
President of the Employee Organization Development Council of Thailand Mr. Manas Kosol spoke about how the opposition MPs said that people with over 500,000 baht in bank accounts would not be eligible for the “Section 33, we love each other” project. He believes that the insured persons under Section 33 with deposits in a bank account of more than 500,000 Baht are not a large population, and most of these people who have a lot of money in their bank accounts will not access the wallet app for fear that there will be an investigation. This project looks to support people. Whoever is satisfied or dissatisfied remained in the consciousness of each person. For example, Mr. Manas said that he would not need any money in this regard because he wants to give this right to other people who truly need it. In the case of bringing old-age pension contributions to be used prematurely, the Ministry of Labour is accelerating the process. In the long term, it will amend the Social Security Act, and in the short term, the matter will be submitted to the Council of State for further interpretation.
President of the Confederation of Thai Labour Mr. Panat Thai-luan, said that he agrees with the “Section 33, we love each other” project. He is confident that it will surely hit the workers’ hearts but requested the authentication registration system to be more convenient for over 9 million eligible insurers. They must take good care of the registration website so that the system does not crash so that workers can access the rights under such measures.
President of the State Enterprise Workers Federation of Thailand Ms. Apsorn Kritsanasit, said this project is good. Although it is only 4,000 Baht, when workers have 4,000 Baht, the money will be spent in a circular motion, which is an advantage in driving the economy.
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Division of Public Relations
5 February 2021
