Summary of AMCHAM Business Today Video Conference for April 3

Summary of AMCHAM Business Today Video Conference

Date: April -3rd 2020

Cabinet Resolutions

General Prayut Chan-o-cha has officially announced a nation-wide curfew effective April 3rd evening starting from 10PM to 4AM, which bans people from leaving their homes with very few exceptions.
In addition, all public transportation have been ordered to stop operating at 9:30PM until 4AM, starting from April 3 as well to curb the spread of the coronavirus. This applies to MRT, BTS, busses, together with taxis and motor-taxis since anyone still on the streets after 10PM is violating the law.
Medical supplies including face masks, PPE and antiviral drugs from China and Japan will soon be transported to Thailand in a deal by the government to fight Covid-19.
There is an impending statement by the cabinet to grant automatic renewals of tourist visa to promote social distancing and reduce crowds at the immigration office.
Some resolutions were previously mentioned in the last session, read here.

Trade and Logistics

E-signatures and photocopied versions are now viable alternatives for customs clearing at all Thai airports. However, companies are suggesting the government to take a step further by operating customs offices during the weekends and including fast-track for essential goods to be cleared and sent over to medical centers without delay.
In AMCHAM’s letter to the PM, we recommended that manufacturers, transporters and its supply chains should not be halted to ensure essential supplies are still available in the market.
The members are confident that goods producers, especially those in FMCG, will not be impacted since they make up a huge portion of the essential infrastructure and disabling them would not only be a big blow to the economy, but the employment rate as well.
In addition, Thai people commute a lot to work, so they are usually not around the kitchen. Along with low cost of eating out, most of the people eat prepared food and have medium to low storage at home.
Nonetheless, the stakes are high for all businesses during this time. Not only should you consider Thai government actions, but foreign governments as well that could cause orders to dry up or disrupt the market, resulting in even more layoffs and factories shutdown.

Covid-19 and the Workplace

The legal members are researching and putting up a paper with their lawyers on Section 75 of the labor act, which mainly discusses the 75% of wage paid to employees when business stops operating, laying off employees and its legal implications.
In terms of labor and staffing in the current situation, employers can take various paths, meaning they could choose the 75% of wage mentioned earlier, 62% by the government if their business were to be shut down or temporarily closed by government orders, etc.
Yet, the best advice was to setup a meeting with the whole team, encourage open communication and talk to them upfront about the current financial situation. The more transparent and honest, the more the team is willing to accept temporary pay reduction.
Another tip was to know your team well and pick out the influencers, get them to buy-in, and the rest will follow through, so that your business can stay open until everything settles down.
Some members with factories are staying operational while also putting employees’ health at first priority. A few examples include splitting headcounts into half to work in different shifts, social distancing by adding space between workers, increasing sanitization and expanding safety procedures.