Mon: Migrants Face Difficulties Registering for Work
With an estimated 200 crossing the border daily due to human rights abuses including fear of persecution and land confiscation, in addition to the poor economic state of the country, the 50,000 baht registration fee would be impossible for those escaping poverty, especially those escaping human rights abuses.
Social workers also fear that migrants unable to pay will be
obliged to accept any kind of job, such as within the sex or fishing industry
in which a good portion are confined in places by their employers for months
on end without contact to the outside world.
“Some migrant workers looking for work in Samut Sakorn province are preparing
to go back to Burma because they cannot afford to pay 50,000 thousand baht,”
said Nai Lun, a Mon volunteer labor worker.
“Nobody can pay fifty thousand baht.” Meanwhile the Thai Ministry needs a further 500,000 workers from the three poorer nations: Burma, Laos and Cambodia, he said. The meeting on February 15th among the three countries agreed to allow 200,000 workers to enter into Thailand to fill the labour shortage, but even that number falls short to satisfy the huge demand for cheap labour, observers say.
Migrant workers with prior permission have to pay a 10,000 baht fee according to an agreement available in Burmese language in the province. Legal migrant workers in Samut Sarkhun province number in at around 70,000, 75% are Mon nationals.
According to a 1996 cabinet resolution and the subsequent 1997 Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand, the rights of migrant workers are protected from exploitation, however, most migrants are at the mercy of their employers who often get away with paying less the minimum wage and prevent migrants to form unions, a situation which leads to gross exploitation of a large migrant workforce, while employers have immediate access to a cheap labour pool.
“With a lack of legal protection for these people it is difficult to get a reliable census of how many migrants there are here,” said Lun. “Unofficial estimates put the figure of migrant workers living in Thailand at about 3 million, here there are 200,00 Burmese migrant workers in Samut Sarkhun, but most are illegal, then there are those that work in the informal sector like domestic workers and waiters,” Lun pointed out.
A good number of the workers with registration cards are prevented from traveling because their registration cards are withheld by employers, making it difficult for them to quit because of abuse and therefore cannot look for another job.
While those with only a photocopy of their work permit are subject to extortion by the Thai police and unscrupulous individuals, because of this they are treated the same as illegal workers. “Even migrants with registration cards are denied the services granted to them with many going without medical care and education,” said Lun.
