Allow return of migrant workers, Thailand urged

[geovalin]

Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister Prak Sokhonn asked the Thai government to allow Cambodian migrant workers to return there to help reduce quarantine costs.

 

Sokhonn made the request via a video conference with his Thai counterpart Don Pramudwinai on Friday.

 

The two discussed bilateral relations and cooperation and regional and global issues of common interest and concern.

 

read more https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/allow-return-migrant-workers-thailand-urged

[finnsk]

I wonder if Cambodian migrant worker are able to pay covid insurance of 100.000 usd, and for a 14 days state quarantine to get in to work in Thailand ?

I also wonder if they can meet the finansial requirements to secure their living cost when they are in Thailand.

I wonder how the authorities take care that they are not going to be a burden and security problem to the country.

[brewsterbudgen]

3 hours ago, finnsk said:

I wonder if Cambodian migrant worker are able to pay covid insurance of 100.000 usd, and for a 14 days state quarantine to get in to work in Thailand ?

I also wonder if they can meet the finansial requirements to secure their living cost when they are in Thailand.

I wonder how the authorities take care that they are not going to be a burden and security problem to the country.

Seeing as ASEAN migrant workers are doing the jobs that Thais don't want to do, there are few, if any, restrictions.  

[Cake Monster]

2 hours ago, brewsterbudgen said:

Seeing as ASEAN migrant workers are doing the jobs that Thais don't want to do, there are few, if any, restrictions.  

If it were  not for the Migrant Labour in Thailand doing all the Tough Jobs like Building, and Field work, Etc, the Country would still be on its A@@e, as Thais are too proud to be seen working in such meanial jobs.

[NE1]

The post is about returning migrant workers back to Cambodia isn't it ?

[hotchilli]

7 hours ago, finnsk said:

I wonder if Cambodian migrant worker are able to pay covid insurance of 100.000 usd, and for a 14 days state quarantine to get in to work in Thailand ?

I also wonder if they can meet the finansial requirements to secure their living cost when they are in Thailand.

I wonder how the authorities take care that they are not going to be a burden and security problem to the country.

There's a convenient loop-hole, called an MOU... great opt-out clause.

[Pedrogaz]

No, no, nop , no, no. Keep migrants out and encourage unemployed and penniless Thias to take these jobs. Make the employers pay what Thai need to live here.....350 to 400 a day.

[Sheryl]

8 hours ago, finnsk said:

I wonder if Cambodian migrant worker are able to pay covid insurance of 100.000 usd, and for a 14 days state quarantine to get in to work in Thailand ?

I also wonder if they can meet the finansial requirements to secure their living cost when they are in Thailand.

I wonder how the authorities take care that they are not going to be a burden and security problem to the country.

 

1. There is a government sponsored health coverage scheme for migrant workers that removes any need for private insurance. For quarantine the Thai govt has been planming special facility near the border,  about half the orice of the cheapest  ASQ but still that is a problem. Obviously the workers can't pay for it and most Employers are unwilling. Hence the Camb govt request to lower the cost. 

 

2. They come here to work and send money home. If their income were not even sufficient for their living costs in Thailand they would have no teason to vome.

 

3. The estimated 1 million Cambodian workers here each year already haven't presented a noticeable security problem yet. 

[Sheryl]

35 minutes ago, Pedrogaz said:

No, no, nop , no, no. Keep migrants out and encourage unemployed and penniless Thias to take these jobs. Make the employers pay what Thai need to live here.....350 to 400 a day.

That is what they pay the migrants, at least put where I am. They can't get Thais even at 12k a month.

[Sheryl]

1 hour ago, NE1 said:

The post is about returning migrant workers back to Cambodia isn't it ?

No. It is about allowing Cambodian migrant workers into Thailand. It is posted in the Cambodia sub-forum.

 

No reason to send those already here back provided they are here legally and in fact the govt has been arranging ways for rhem to extend their permissions of stay without having to first return to Cambodia.

 

The Thai economy is extremely dependent on migrant labor. Estimated 1 million Cambodians alone.

[NE1]

28 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

That is what they pay the migrants, at least put where I am. They can't get Thais even at 12k a month.

They might be able to now Sheryl .

I have been hard up and out of work before , the social security in the UK was a pittance and I had a mortgage to pay.

But you take what is in offer , okay you don't like it much , but it puts some money in your pocket.

I don't know how anybody can plead poverty and turn down work .

 

[Sheryl]

16 minutes ago, NE1 said:

They might be able to now Sheryl .

I have been hard up and out of work before , the social security in the UK was a pittance and I had a mortgage to pay.

But you take what is in offer , okay you don't like it much , but it puts some money in your pocket.

I don't know how anybody can plead poverty and turn down work .

 

They are still unable to get Thai workers. Hasn't changed. No unemployed Thais out here and no influx of same from other areas.

 

You need to consider who the people who lost jobs due to the pandemic are in terms of what work they did, their skills, and where in the country they were. Most are not at all a good fit for the work migrants do. Also need to consider their altetnatives which often include return to home province where they can live for free with family and help out on family farm, around the house  or in family business. Not as lucrative as what they did beforw but still preferred to doing hard manual labor out in provinces whete they don't have family and would have to rent a place to live.

 

[NE1]

If the landowners can't get their migrants , then they will have to put the wages up to entice the Thais to do the work.

The goverment shouldn't be taking shortcuts on quarantine and medical certificates needed for entering the country because land owners want to maintain the daily wage.

Health vs Baht .

 

[Yme]

As pointed out in the story 

"the Thai side doesn’t need workers... approximately 120,000 Cambodian migrant workers had returned from Thailand" out of a migrant workforce pre-pandemic of more than 1.2 million. 

 

I just read this the other day about the company that makes Mercedes in Thailand. It's seven years old but they were complaining then about not getting qualified staff and the education system failing -- producing too many degree holders and not enough diploma graduates. https://photo-journ.com/2013/thailands-education-system-hampering-auto-manufacturing-industrys-growth/

(Some nice photos from inside the factory from back then too here https://photo-journ.com/2013/inside-the-factory-building-thailands-mercedes-benzs-photo-special/ )

 

Some interesting figures from the first link: 

 

More than 55 per cent of the labour force in the Thailand automotive industry consists of workers who completed Mattayom 6 (year 12) or less, about 35 per cent have vocational or higher vocational education skills while those with tertiary qualifications make up about 10 per cent.

 

This is the wrong mix. About 15 per cent of the Thailand automotive industry should be tertiary qualified engineers and such, and at least 55 per cent should be skilled technicians. Lower-educated laborers should make up the rest, with the lowest-skilled workers being replaced by automation systems and re-trained to high skill levels.

 

In 2012 when the country’s auto-makers churned out a record 2.4 million vehicles, the industry employed about 650,000 workers, with a labour productivity rate of about 3.69 vehicles per employee.

 

The industry is aiming for an 8 per cent rise in productivity every year. But if productivity can be raised by 10 per cent per annum, then the labour-productivity rate will rise to about four vehicles per worker per annum.

 

With this improved productivity rate, the industry may require fewer than 200,000 more employees over the next five years to reach its target of producing three million vehicles per year.

 

The days of Thailand being the go-to place for everyone else in the region looking for work may be gone. Thais are going to have to adapt or go hungry. I would hope the government push is to force industry to hire and train Thais and that market forces will see lower end salaries rise as a result.