Prejudice and abuse of foreign workers "worse than ever" after Covid scare, reports Thai media

[Meat Pie 47]

1 hour ago, ChrisY1 said:

Try being an Asian in many western countries...Australia for example!

What the ell you talking about if you have nothing

decent to say just shut up.

[lovethai123]

5 hours ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

Karma will be when their economy completely collapses and there's mass protests throughout the country.

 

January will be epic.

how is economy going to collapse? u see where baht is. where gold price is. thailand is richer than ever. 

 

[dcnx]

Land of smiles my ***.

 

This is the true face of Thailand that hides behind all those fake smiles.

[katatonic]

1 hour ago, Xonax said:

It´s just modern day slavery!

BLM would open a 'Brown' division if this was what they really cared about.

[DogNo1]

Prejudice and scapegoating occurs in every country I have lived in.  Complaining about doesn’t seem to help.

[Surasak]

25 minutes ago, dcnx said:

Land of smiles my ***.

 

This is the true face of Thailand that hides behind all those fake smiles.

One of the first things I was told about LOS. All smiles it may be, but look out for what is behind the smile. However, I will say, they are not all the same in my experience.

[Cake Monster]

I wonder how much these Immigrant labourers have to pay the BIB for the privilege of being Exploited every Month.

Its 200 Baht each at a roadside checkpoint

[natway09]

Forgetting about many stupid answers to this post who just love "Thai Bashing" there are some very disturbing

facts about this article (if in fact true) that need discussing,

The present & past Governments should be chastised heavily mainly the Labour Dept for allowing any imported legal labour to work for less than the minimum rate which gets very close to slave labour

Yes, I have employed many Burmese over the last 30 years & they always got the minimum  wage as the Thais

labourer rate.

Maybe the can of worms is open now & labour, Immigration & Inland Revenue Departments  can get their tracing 

computers sync'ed  to stop greedy employers in future from exploiting these people

[Burma Bill]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

they find themselves at the bottom of the pile

Not only migrant workers, but many ordinary decent Thai folk as far as the "elite" and "Hi So's" are concerned!

[hotchilli]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

Prejudice and abuse of foreign workers "worse than ever" after Covid scare, reports Thai media

To be expected, but Thais have very short memories and a blind spot when it suits.

If all the migrants got up and went home Thailand would collapse within days.

[Mr Meeseeks]

58 minutes ago, lovethai123 said:

how is economy going to collapse? u see where baht is. where gold price is. thailand is richer than ever. 

 

If they have a massive COVID-19 outbreak we'll talk about it then.

[Pattaya Spotter]

Is this a story the Thai media has just discovered...maybe they could read numerous EU and U.S. reports of a labour abuses, human trafficking, and even slavery in the Thai seafood industry in particular, and food processing more generally. Maybe they could also talk to a Finnish labour activist, who reported on mistreatment of cannery workers, who has been hounded out of Thailand by lawsuits against him by a certain Thai fruit company.

[CharlieH]

Reported post removed.

[Robert Tyrrell]

Hello ,

 Covid does not care what Race , Color , Creed or Religion your are or if your a Migrant Worker or Native Worker to Thailand, It only know 3 things Infect , Spread and Potentially Kill PERIOD !!

STOP !! This Witch Hunt and Prejudice Ignorance , Start a National Testing and Tracing Program Thailand and put a plan in place to Vaccinate Thailand’s Population regardless of Nationality, But most important start Educating Thailand on proper Mask Wearing , Social Distancing and Frequently Washing Hands and Avoiding Crowds 

PERIOD !! 

[DjChris28]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

Prejudice and abuse of foreign workers "worse than ever" after Covid scare, reports Thai media

 

 

The plight of foreign workers - particularly those from Myanmar - featured in a Thai TV report after they found themselves singled out and blamed for the latest outbreak of Covid-19 in Samut Sakhon. 

 

One spoke of poor wages and abuse at the hands of a Thai employer that left her in tears. She has to stay to get money to send back to her country despite the racism which is worse than ever in the light of the Covid-19 outbreak.

 

One vegetable trader confirmed that his foreign workers face prejudice wherever they go. They are only trying to eke out a living in a foreign country, look after their families but they find themselves at the bottom of the pile.

 

People feel they are being made scapegoats for the disease outbreak.

 

PPTV 36 went to talk at A A Min in her ramshackle zinc sheet room that she calls home. A baby was asleep in a hammock. A temporary looking cooking area could prepare basic meals. Her husband was out at work as a construction worker. There are three children to support.

 

In bitty Thai - a second language for her - she explained how she had left her homeland to seek a better life in Thailand even though she had no knowledge of Thai language and little education. It represented a chance to at least earn some money as there was nothing for her at home. 

 

She imagined in her admittedly uneducated way that Thailand was the land of prosperity and that the people would be kind. 

 

She found this was a rose tinted view that had no basis in reality. 

 

She has now lived in Thailand for seven years.

 

Her first job as a maid got her just 1,500 baht a month, well below the legal minimum wage. 

 

She worked from dawn to dusk and had to suffer the abuse of her employer. She admitted that sometimes she was in tears from the insults and criticism she suffered. 

 

She was called "terrible" and almost blamed for coming to Thailand to seek a better life. She said she learned to take it on the chin, carry on and say nothing.

 

In Samut Sakhon where she lives there are 230,000 migrant workers, the most anywhere in Thailand. Of these about 212,000 are her compatriots, close to 10,000 are from Laos and around 8,000 are Cambodians. 

 

So far 900 have tested positive for Covid - most from Myanmar. 

 

Now in the current situation migrant workers are looked down on worse than before. Even though A is blameless because she has not travelled there from Myanmar recently she still gets blamed for bringing the disease in.

 

PPTV 36 also spoke to a market trader who deals in vegetables called Lert Yutimit who said that at least one foreign worker is at every place and he employs many. 

 

He said that no Thai will do the work for the money. He said that most Thais are prejediced towards migrants even though few in society actually know any migrant workers. 

 

Speaking ruefully about his employees he sympathized with their plight. 

 

Back with A the reporter said that she was just trying to protect her family from Covid and despite the hardship and abuse didn't want to go back home to Myanmar. 

 

She intended to stick it out and put up with her life in Thailand for the very same reasons that Thais work abroad or away from their home villages.

 

To send money back to her mother and father. 

 

Source: PPTV

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2020-12-23

 

- Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you

- Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

 

When I was in Thailand in March 2020, I couldn't even rent an apartment without being accused of having COVID.

[Caldera]

Saddening, albeit hardly surprising. Exploiting and stoking xenophobia is an authoritarian government's cheapest weapon to keep the populace in line in times of crisis.

 

Hopefully migrant workers will be able to find better opportunities in their home countries in the near future, so that they won't have to suffer this kind of treatment (plus separation from their families) any longer. It's despicable and it will only end once the ready supply of cheap migrant labor runs out.

 

[mrmrmred]

7 hours ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

Karma will be when their economy completely collapses and there's mass protests throughout the country.

 

January will be epic.

2021 will be epic... 

[Moonlover]

1 hour ago, DirtyHarry55 said:

How do you know it's not related?

Where's the evidence the outbreak started with Migrant workers?

Maybe one of those Thai worker who illegally crossed the border went shopping at the Sea Food market who knows??
Most of the Migrant workers live in Thailand permanently and haven't crossed the border.

It appears that there is no clear evidence as to where and when this outbreak began, so your statement 'where's the evidence' swings both ways.

 

I think that your hypotheses about a Thai worker going shopping in the market is highly unlikely. This primarily a wholesale market where traders go to buy.

 

The other factor against that notion is the timescale. There are far too many cases in too short a time for a single spreader from up north to have started it.

 

But it's early days in the game of 'track and trace'. They may find a link, but I doubt it.

[bodga]

2 hours ago, PGSan said:

 

Get over your self and do your own skivying! 

Funny man eh, I pay them to do the skivying they dont do it for charity you  know, thats how the world  works.

[Fairynuff]

2 hours ago, PGSan said:

I think that this was why the UK voted to leave , or not?  To dehumanize non-local Europeans.

Partly yes. But it’s more complex.

[GreasyFingers]

8 hours ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

It was pretty obvious nationalism and xenophobia would reach unprecedented heights under this government, especially given the statements from the Deputy PM about dirty foreigners.

 

And you know what, it's only going to get worse.  

Talk about government xenophobia.  This has always been the case in Thailand and nothing to do with this or any other government.

When my step daughter went to work in America she could not believe the the prejudice against her (and she is a good looking woman). Her words were "they look down at me as we look down on the Myanmars".

Nothing has changed but you need to blame government to satisfy your prejudice.

[P100]

Not surprized. The county fails because its government fails. A military junta that took over and has no professionals in key positions. Only garbage speaking stupid people who are focussed on enriching themselves. Generals, go back to your sandbox, play there! Let competence rule the country not xenophobia, racism, fear and stupidity.

 

 

[metisdead]

Some posts baiting other members have been removed. 

[lovethai123]

1 hour ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

If they have a massive COVID-19 outbreak we'll talk about it then.

they wont. prayut and his boys will handle it. all they have to do is incerase viral pneumonia cases and keep covid daily increase in single numbers and then turn it to zero

[PGSan]

41 minutes ago, bodga said:

Funny man eh

Beats moaning man any day!

[Anant72]

8 hours ago, PatOngo said:

Meanwhile the richest 1% control 66% of the countries wealth! Why are there so many temples in Thailand???

Religion is just there to give oneself good conscience. There are lots of mosques in Saudi Arabia but foreign workers are treated like cattle, there are many churches in Europe but foreign workers are looked down in many places. 

[connda]

The Thai government knows that all non-Thais present an existential threat to Thailand as well as all being potential COVID carriers.  Perhaps it's best to remove all foreigners to protects Thai citizens from the foreigner danger?

[Flying Saucage]

Good statement of the Mekong Migration Network on Prayut's and Anutins way to blame the migrant workers as scapegoats in order to deflect public attention from their incompetence to handle the outbreak in a reasonable and human way:

 

http://www.mekongmigration.org/?p=18630

[Suua]

I feel for the people at the end of the xenophobia.

An outbreak has occurred and now 'some' testing has been done they're now finding the cases that have been here all along. 

Test and you will find....thank you, to the criminal who imported these workers.

[juice777]

I can't wait for The world to reopen so I can decide not to return to Thailand and go somewhere else on Holiday maybe Canda legal weed and great scenery.