• Burmese
Sunday, June 15, 2025
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Irrawaddy
25 °c
Yangon
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
No Result
View All Result
The Irrawaddy
No Result
View All Result
Home News Burma

Burmese Workers at Risk from Thai Labor Deal

William Boot by William Boot
April 24, 2012
in Uncategorized
Reading Time: 4 mins read
0 0
A A
Burmese Workers at Risk from Thai Labor Deal

A young Burmese boy working at a fish factory in Ranong

2.3k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

“Human rights abuses faced daily by migrant workers include violent attacks and killings by government security forces and private individuals, extensive use of torture and ill-treatment in detention, sexual abuse, widespread labor rights abuses, and pervasive extortion.”

One would be forgive for thinking this damning indictment described the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Syria or Burma.

But no, this comes from a recent report by the respected New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) regarding Thailand—the “land of smiles” destination for millions of Western tourists and where Burma is planning a to “export” 200,000 migrant workers in a controversial new deal.

RelatedPosts

Sagaing Protesters Condemn Civilian Govt Toll Charges

Sagaing Protesters Condemn Civilian Govt Toll Charges

June 14, 2025
239
Tree-Planting Hides Logging Frenzy; Moving Mountains for Steel Production; and More

Tree-Planting Hides Logging Frenzy; Moving Mountains for Steel Production; and More

June 14, 2025
144
Is TNLA, Under Chinese Pressure, Conceding Northern Shan Gateway to the Regime?

Is TNLA, Under Chinese Pressure, Conceding Northern Shan Gateway to the Regime?

June 13, 2025
743

The Burmese government is negotiating to supply workers to help alleviate high unemployment at home while easing a labor shortage in its eastern neighbor.

Thailand already has up to three million poorly paid migrant workers and most of them are from Burma.

In its report to the UN’s Human Rights Council on June 3, HRW said, “In every region we visited, from the remote provinces on Thailand’s borders to major industrial zones near Bangkok, abuses of migrants were systematic and those filing grievances faced immediate, violent retaliation from a nexus of local police, officials and employers.

“Severe restrictions on migrants’ rights to establish trade unions, to legally organize groups or associations, and to assemble and express views further reinforce the vulnerability of migrants to abuses.”

Some human rights and labor activist groups believe the deal being hatched between the Burmese and Thai labor ministries has more to do with the Bangkok government’s decision to increase the minimum wage for Thai workers than any real labor shortage.

Bizarrely, it also comes as some Thai firms are considering moving their production to Burma to cut costs.

In March, at least six major Thai clothing manufacturers announced that they planned to move their factories to Burma to use cheaper labor there because of the Thai government’s introduction of a higher minimum wage.

The higher wage of 300 baht (US$9.75) a day came into force in Bangkok and some other areas on April 1, and on April 20 Thai Labor Minister Padermchai Sasomsap said it would be extended across the country by the end of this year.

“There isn’t really a labor shortage in Thailand, but there is a shortage of people prepared to work for peanuts,” a human rights activist in Bangkok told The Irrawaddy this weekend.

“The garment industry in Thailand has a history of employing Burmese workers on low pay. Many others work in the construction and fishing industries,” said the activist on condition of anonymity.

“In the present circumstances of continuing abuse of Burmese workers already in Thailand and a possible revival of Burma’s own economy, it’s hard to understand why the Burmese government would go along with this new mass cross-border labor agreement.”

The deal, discussed during a visit to Thailand last week by Burmese Deputy Labor Minister Myint Thein, coincided with rare public protests in Thailand by migrant workers over their conditions and pay.

Workers at a Thai food factory at Kanchanaburi on the border with Burma and a fish processing plant at Songkla in southern Thailand highlighted the continuing misuse of vulnerable labor, as highlighted last June by HRW.

The protesting workers complained about the withholding of wages to pay “fees” as well as the confiscation of passports and other vital documents to prevent employees leaving.

This is being spotlighted even as the Thai government promises the Burmese government that it is establishing a more open, legal registration of migrant workers to ensure fairness and rights. The Thai authorities said last week they were opening five new documentation centers for unregistered migrant workers already in the country.

Thailand is not only the world’s biggest rice exporter, it is a major producer and exporter of seafood, with many products being sold to Western countries, including the US, which have sanctioned Burma for labor abuses but have done nothing about Thailand.

The US radio program Latitudes, sponsored by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, recently highlighted the plight of Burmese workers in Thailand’s fishing industry, which supplies the shrimps and tuna popular in the US and elsewhere in the West. It showed how workers end up indebted to Thai employment “brokers” and find themselves working long hours in dangerous conditions.

Broadcaster Jesse Hardman visited the fishing port of Mahachai south of Bangkok which he says has 120,000 Burmese workers and is known locally as “Little Burma.”

“Trafficking Burmese labor is big business in Thailand. Recruiters get Burmese into industries, but along the way the Burmese accumulate debt and have to pay it back in a kind of indentured servitude,” Hardman said.

Many workers in Mahachai are caught up in this sort of racket, which is condoned by police and other law-enforcing agencies, he said.

Burma and Thailand still have to meet again in May to finalize their new cross-border labor plan. The Thai authorities have promised to increase documentation for migrant workers which will supposedly give them better legal status and prevent abuse. However, observers question how likely this is given their track record.

Some NGOs and academic specialists think it will require much more than the opening of documentation centers where Burmese and other migrants workers from Cambodia and Laos can register.

“There’s been systematic corruption, discrimination, exploitation. Migrants are treated like walking ATMs,” Hardman quoted Andy Hall, a migrant labor expert at Bangkok’s Mahidol University, as saying.

Your Thoughts …
William Boot

William Boot

Similar Picks:

Exodus: Tens of Thousands Flee as Myanmar Junta Troops Face Last Stand in Kokang
Burma

Exodus: Tens of Thousands Flee as Myanmar Junta Troops Face Last Stand in Kokang

by Hein Htoo Zan
November 28, 2023
98.3k

Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army troops are opening roads and pathways through forests for people to flee Kokang’s capital as...

Read moreDetails
Burning Alive in Myanmar: Two Resistance Fighters Executed in Public
Burma

Burning Alive in Myanmar: Two Resistance Fighters Executed in Public

by The Irrawaddy
February 7, 2024
89.3k

People’s Defense Force says junta troops told every household in the village to send one member to witness the double...

Read moreDetails
Another Entire Junta Battalion Raises the White Flag in Myanmar’s Northern Shan State
War Against the Junta

Another Entire Junta Battalion Raises the White Flag in Myanmar’s Northern Shan State

by The Irrawaddy
November 29, 2023
87k

Brotherhood Alliance member says it now has complete control of Kokang’s northernmost section after the junta’s Light Infantry Battalion 125...

Read moreDetails
Depleted Myanmar Military Urges Deserters to Return to Barracks
Burma

Depleted Myanmar Military Urges Deserters to Return to Barracks

by The Irrawaddy
December 4, 2023
59k

The junta said deserters would not be punished for minor crimes, highlighting the military’s shortage of troops as resistance offensives...

Read moreDetails
As Myanmar’s Military Stumbles, a Top General’s Dissapearance Fuels Intrigue
Burma

As Myanmar’s Military Stumbles, a Top General’s Dissapearance Fuels Intrigue

by The Irrawaddy
April 19, 2024
46.9k

The junta’s No. 2 has not been seen in public since April 3, sparking rumors that he was either gravely...

Read moreDetails
Enter the Dragon, Exit the Junta: Myanmar’s Brotherhood Alliance makes Chinese New Year Vow
Burma

Enter the Dragon, Exit the Junta: Myanmar’s Brotherhood Alliance makes Chinese New Year Vow

by The Irrawaddy
February 12, 2024
44.7k

Ethnic armed grouping says it will continue Operation 1027 offensive until goal of ousting the junta is achieved. 

Read moreDetails
Load More
Next Post
Ban Ki-moon to Visit Burma to Observe 'Transition'

Ban Ki-moon to Visit Burma to Observe 'Transition'

China Punishes 20 Officials after Village Protests

No Result
View All Result

Recommended

How the Myanmar Military’s Propaganda Efforts Have Evolved Over the Decades

How the Myanmar Military’s Propaganda Efforts Have Evolved Over the Decades

3 days ago
996
Untested Commander Takes Charge as Myanmar Military Faces Toughest Challenge in Decades

Untested Commander Takes Charge as Myanmar Military Faces Toughest Challenge in Decades

1 day ago
969

Most Read

  • Myanmar Tourism Sector Mocks Junta’s Russia Tourist Drive

    Myanmar Tourism Sector Mocks Junta’s Russia Tourist Drive

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Sagaing Region Braced for Myanmar Junta Airstrikes After Jet Crash

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Untested Commander Takes Charge as Myanmar Military Faces Toughest Challenge in Decades

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Is TNLA, Under Chinese Pressure, Conceding Northern Shan Gateway to the Regime?

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Sagaing Protesters Condemn Civilian Govt Toll Charges

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Newsletter

Get The Irrawaddy’s latest news, analyses and opinion pieces on Myanmar in your inbox.

Subscribe here for daily updates.

Contents

  • News
  • Politics
  • War Against the Junta
  • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
  • Conflicts In Numbers
  • Junta Crony
  • Ethnic Issues
  • Asia
  • World
  • Business
  • Economy
  • Election 2020
  • Elections in History
  • Cartoons
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Commentary
  • Guest Column
  • Analysis
  • Letters
  • In Person
  • Interview
  • Profile
  • Dateline
  • Specials
  • Myanmar Diary
  • Women & Gender
  • Places in History
  • On This Day
  • From the Archive
  • Myanmar & COVID-19
  • Intelligence
  • Myanmar-China Watch
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Food
  • Fashion & Design
  • Videos
  • Photos
  • Photo Essay
  • Donation

About The Irrawaddy

Founded in 1993 by a group of Myanmar journalists living in exile in Thailand, The Irrawaddy is a leading source of reliable news, information, and analysis on Burma/Myanmar and the Southeast Asian region. From its inception, The Irrawaddy has been an independent news media group, unaffiliated with any political party, organization or government. We believe that media must be free and independent and we strive to preserve press freedom.

  • Copyright
  • Code of Ethics
  • Privacy Policy
  • Team
  • About Us
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Burmese

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Business
    • Economy
    • Business Roundup
  • Books
  • Donation

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.