Thai Airways International has proposed a plan to trim salaries for senior officials on a voluntary basis in a fresh move to slash costs of the trouble airline, a union leader said on Thursday.
Damrong Waiyakanee, the THAI labour union president, said the plan was approved by the executive committee on Tuesday. It was formulated to solicit cooperation from staff members to help pull the airline out of its crisis.
The plan will cover about 2,000 staff members from executive vice presidents to department chiefs with the proposed salary cut being 10% for those in top positions to 1% for the managerial level, according to the union leader.
The plan is part of efforts to reduce operating costs of the carrier which so far has not reached the target. It came after Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha called for salary cuts at state enterprises including the airline.
The union staunchly opposed the plan, saying the amount of money to be saved would be minimal and have no impact on solving the company's crisis.
It was aimed at pleasing the prime minister by executives at the expense of lower-ranking officials, Mr Damrong said.
Narongchai Wongthanavimok, the executive vice president of finance and accounting, tried to ease the union's concern, saying it was only one of several measures mooted in the meeting and would not be compulsory. There would be more proposals to come to reduce the operating costs, he added.
