Picking up extra MONEY

General News - Tuesday December 11, 2007

Spotlight

Picking up extra MONEY

Pickup truck drivers hit the political campaign trail, but it can be a rough road for some

Story and photo by SURASAK TUMCHAROEN

Pickup truck owners all over the country are making extra money by driving around with billboards featuring election candidates on the sides of their vehicles, but it's a hard road for some.

Some say the extra income they make is worth leaving their regular jobs for nearly two months in the build-up to the Dec 23 election. Others say they are asking the candidates or their canvassers to pay more per day to make up for the rising price of petrol.

In Phetchabun, pickup truck owners met to discuss the rising cost of fuel, which they have to bear on their own while driving around day in day out with the candidates' posters aboard their trucks.

The price of diesel is now more than 30 baht a litre. A full tank of diesel for a pickup now costs 1,600-1,800 baht and the daily pay for the drivers ranges from 500 to 1,200 baht, depending on the distance they cover.

Those who are interested in temporarily turning their vehicles into a mobile campaign must have their own loudspeakers and amplifiers. Some of the pickup owners have bought new audio equipment and others have quickly had their broken amplifiers fixed at their own expense.

The sound systems are needed so the drivers can play taped speeches that introduce the candidates and talk about their background and past performances as well as their party's plans and schemes.

Thiva Buntang, 29, a small-time construction worker from Lom Sak district who is going places with billboards for People Power party candidates on his pickup says the 500 baht a day he gets from one of the candidates is not enough to travel too far from the candidate's urban home.

This jack of all trades says he drives an average of 60km each day and expects more money if he is told to drive further.

Phornchai Sibuaklang, 36, a vegetable farmer from Lom Kao district, says he will not go further than 100km in a round trip, and receives 800 baht a day, but has to pay the fuel bill himself. The most he has driven is a 200km round trip, meaning all the fuel in his pickup truck is used up in about two trips around the district.

The pickup truck drivers consider the job not worthwhile unless they are given more money per day.

In a Phetchabun constituency which covers the mountainous districts of Nam Nao, Khao Kho, Lom Sak and Lom Kao, most of the pickup drivers choose not to return home to the downtown areas until they nearly run out of fuel.

"We barely have enough fuel to come back home from up there in the hills. We spend nights on the side of the road. We sleep in a tent or at a shack inside a temple along the way," said one driver.

Dan Songkhram, 43, a food vendor from Lom Sak district, says he is given 800 baht per day by a PPP candidate contesting one of the two constituencies of this lower-northern province.

The money he gets is not worth the trip to and from the hilly area and after consulting with his fellow drivers, Mr Dan plans to ask for a raise.

"We'd like to be given at least 400 baht more per day. The price of diesel is now up to 31 baht a litre in the remote areas in the mountains. The further up we go in the hills, the more pay we should get."

He has been told to campaign through all the mountain villages of Khao Kho and Nam Nao districts over a one-week period.

Some pickup drivers do not care about the pay, however.

Suchart Lamai, 39, a rice farmer, says he would not mind driving further than asked by his employer, PPP candidate Ekarat Phuachuay, although it would certainly be more expensive and he would have to meet the cost himself, because he has faith in the party in general and the candidate in particular.

Given 800 baht a day, he says he will drive as far as he possibly can every time.

"I'm not doing this for the money. I'm willing to help because I know him well and I always voted Thai Rak Thai [in previous elections]," he said.

The PPP is known to be a resurrection of the defunct TRT led by deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Though contesting the same ticket and in the same constituency, three PPP candidates have chosen to divide their constituency into three zones, with each of them concentrating on one area.

Narongkorn Chawalsantati says his campaign zone covers part of Lom Sak district, which is his home, plus Nam Nao, Khao Kho and Lom Kao districts. The ex-TRT MP says he has hired only three pickup trucks for the time being. They carry billboards featuring himself at the end of a row of three candidates.

He says he will certainly need to add a dozen more trucks to his campaign fleet before the poll. The PPP candidates, including Rewat Saengwijit, Mr Ekarat and Mr Narongkorn, are up against arch-rivals running with the Matchimathipataya party, former deputy minister Charat Phuachuay and Pranom Chantharaphakdee, the wife of veteran MP Phaisal, who is one of the 111 TRT executives banned from politics.

All the hired pickup truck drivers are required to go to the candidates' homes every morning before they head for their designated areas with the truck-mounted billboards. At the candidate's home they eat breakfast, usually sticky rice with roast chicken and sauce dips, listen to instructions from the candidates or from a head canvasser and get their daily pay.

In the evening some of the tired drivers go home for dinner with their families, while others drop by a roadside food shop where they sit down with their colleagues to chat and drink.

By : Bangkok Post