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Andy Hall briefs Aung San Suu Kyi about Thailand's labor crisis

Phuket Workers Fear Crackdown But It May Never Happen

Saturday, December 15, 2012
PHUKET: A crackdown on illegal workers on Phuket is feared by some following the expiry of the deadline for nationality verification, a senior Phuket official said yesterday.

About 30,000 illegal workers from Burma, Cambodia and Laos are believed to be on Phuket, the Director of the Phuket Labor Office, Yaowapa Piboonpol said as the deadline expired on Friday.

As at November 25, there were 72,401 legal migrant workers on Phuket, more than 80 percent of them Burmese, registered by 8161 Phuket employers, she said.

Phuket had an unemployment rate of less than one percent and tourism and construction relied heavily on imported labor, she said.

There were requests for a total of 130,861 workers on Phuket, she said.

''I don't expect to see significant changes,'' Khun Yaowapa added. ''There is no pressure at present for Burmese workers to return home.

''Although the cost of living on Phuket is high, most people continue to find the wages and extra benefits attractive.''

Tourism had become dependent on people from other countries because Thais were not good at English, she said, so restaurants, souvenir stalls and shops of all kinds were staffed by non-Thais.

Another source told Phuketwan that there were 45 Burmese worker camps in the Phuket City district, 50 camps in Thalang district and 10 in Kathu district.

The nationwide deadline for verification has been extended several times with the Ministry of Labor standing firm on Friday as the final deadline.

It's not clear yet when police will react but as there are estimated to be one million unregistered workers throughout Thailand, the task of arresting and deporting them would be enormous.

Andy Hall, a migrant specialist at Mahidol University's Migration Center, recently travelled to Burma to talk with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to seek her help in protecting Burmese workers in Thailand.

''There are many possible strategies and means for Thailand and neighboring countries to address irregular migration in ways that respect national, economic and human security,'' he said.

Migrant workers were often the most obvious victims of corruption in Thailand, he said.

The corruption that had been carried out in the form of shakedowns by police, labor officials and Immigration officers had shifted to brokers in charge of the verification process, Mr Hall said.

Although abuses continued, there had been there have been tangible benefits from nationality verification for migrant workers who complete the process, he said.

''Phuket still needs workers badly,'' said Khun Yaowapa.

She added that there were 7376 workers documented from other countries, with Britain, the Philippines and Australia topping the numbers.

Comments

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Oh the crakdown is definitely happening. I travel down the back road to PSU from the Anuphas Honda dealership and there is a new police checkpoint building there. I have seen the police escorting trucks filled with workers into the car park there every morning for the last two weeks.

Posted by Mr Man on December 15, 2012 13:17

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"I have seen the police escorting trucks filled with workers into the car park there every morning for the last two weeks."
Unlucky, the police isn't responsible for this planed (?) crackdowns! They probably make sure, that the company has all needed insurances for the road trips of their workers paid!

Posted by Anonymous on December 15, 2012 16:39

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The reluctance to issue legal documents to migrant workers is largely due to the fact that if they are legal, they can't be forced to pay bribes anymore.

It is an open secret that illegal migrants have to pay Bt 1000 per month to those collecting on Phuket. I could provide sources to confirm and verify this, even observe payments made and collected.

Now multiply that with even the very modest number of 30.000 quoted here and you get a picture of how much money is involved and why it's not in the interest of certain authorities to make sure migrants have legal status.

Come AEC, can you imagine a situation where a Burmese would be the boss of 500 Thais working for him ?

Posted by Andrew on December 15, 2012 23:15

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@Andrew - Come AEC, can you imagine a situation where a Burmese would be the boss of 500 Thais working for him ? -

That will not happen as the free movement of ASEAN workers will be only for those educated workers with national official diplomas recognised by other ASEAN countries.
The Ministry of Labour is working with all different ministers in Thailand to have the diploma equivalences with other ASEAN countries ready by 2015 just before the border opening on 31 December 2015.

By the way, the opening of ASEAN will bring Thailand to have no choice but to reinforce its regulations against Non-ASEAN people and those who are dreaming of better opportunity in businesses with ASEAN will be be disillusioned.

Today, Phuket Province has only 235 foreigners with a "Certificarte of Residence" (Permanent Resident Visa) and only 4 foreigners got it for 2012.

Posted by Whistle-Blower on December 18, 2012 09:49


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