Thailand agreed yesterday to raise the minimum wage in Bangkok by 3.4 percent, a decision which upset hundreds of workers demonstrating near Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s office for a much higher rise. “Oil prices are damned expensive, but wages are damned cheap,” said one placard a week after Thaksin announced measures to stimulate the economy which included bringing forward a civil servant pay rise but not an expected minimum wage increase.

Thaksin deferred a decision on the minimum wage to the national wage body, which includes employers, employees and the government. Yesterday’s rally was held to coincide with its deliberations. The wage panel decided to raise the minimum by between 2 baht and 8 baht depending on the region, with workers in Bangkok and surrounding provinces getting 6 baht more from August 1 to put them on 175 baht ($4) a day, officials said.

Union leaders were outraged, saying the rise came nowhere near what Thaksin himself had signalled it should be as he unveiled measures to stimulate an economy struggling with high oil prices and rising inflation. He said unskilled workers needed at least 7,000 baht a month, or 233 baht a day, and that was the rise the unions demanded. “Six baht a day is a laughable figure,” union spokeswoman Wilaiwan sae Tia said.

“The government must treat everyone equally, no matter whether they are civil servants or labourers,” she said. The unions would wait until October, when the civil servants are due to get their rise, to see if the government would raise the minimum wage to 233 baht, Wilaiwan said. She declined to say what action the unions would take if the government failed to do so. Thailand, which imports 90 percent of its crude oil, spent 1.0 trillion baht on fuel last year, the equivalent of 15 percent of its gross domestic product. Oil accounted for 22 percent of the import bill in the first five months of this year, up sharply from 15 percent in 2004.