Myanmar migrant workers pass their time near their room as they have been stuck for 12 days due to lockdown measures after more than a thousand COVID-19 cases were detected in the workers' dormitory in Bangkok, Thailand May 22, 2021. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) - A series of coronavirus clusters among construction workers in Bangkok, including the first local cases of the variant first identified in India, has put a fresh spotlight on migrant labour rights as Thailand grapples with its deadliest outbreak so far.

 

Migrant workers have been crucial during Bangkok's decade-long construction boom, but they receive limited welfare from the government and their employers, advocacy groups say. Many live onsite in crowded dormitories to save money.

 

Thailand last week detected its first 36 domestically transmitted cases of the highly infectious B.1.617.2 coronavirus variant among people in construction workers' accommodation in Bangkok.

 

City authorities have prohibited movement of workers at such camps after 11 were among 30 active clusters in the capital.

There are around 409 workers' camps around Bangkok where authorities say 62,169 workers live, about half who are migrant labour.

 

"Migrant workers are a group that society overlooks," Suthasinee Kaewleklai, Migrant Workers Rights Network (MWRN) coordinator in Thailand said.

 

"Many were not confident that they can come in for tests and not be arrested."

 

The International Organization for Migration estimates that there are 4 million to 5 million migrant workers in Thailand, many working in construction, manufacturing and seafood industries.

 

Workers from Myanmar were among those worst-hit by Thailand's previous coronavirus outbreak in December, the epicentre of which was a province near Bangkok with a high concentration of migrant labourers.

 

The outbreak also saw a sharp rise in anti-Myanmar hate speech on Thai social media.

 

There are also concerns that illegal border crossings are undermining the country's strict quarantine system for arrivals in the country.

 

Authorities tightened border crossings at the weekend after three local cases were found of the COVID-19 variant first identified in South Africa, stemming from illegal entry.

 

Thailand is battling its most severe outbreak yet, fuelled by another highly transmissible variant, B.1.1.7, first detected in Britain, which authorities believe may have entered Thailand via an illegal border crossing from Cambodia.

 

Nearly 33,000 illegal migrants had been arrested since July 2020, the defense ministry said.

 

Thailand's latest outbreak has accounted for nearly 80% of its 132,213 cases and close to 90% of the 806 deaths recorded so far.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-05-24

 

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Property developers will only care when the buildings are not finished and the banks come looking for their money. Then they will care about conditions in Labour camps and the health of their workers, when it hits them in their wallets

No-one will give the Burmese a break. If they stay in Burma, they risk being slaughtered by the vile military government who have run the place for most of the last 50 years and if they go to Thailand to work they get locked up in slave camps and vilified by the natives. Meanwhile the rest of the world wring their hands and do absolutely nothing to help.

And we Falangs think we're badly off ...

14 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

City authorities have prohibited movement of workers at such camps after 11 were among 30 active clusters in the capital.

You know there's something very wrong when the construction workers accommodation is termed as a camp... but hey we all know what Thailand thinks of migrant labourers and how they are treated.

 

Wouldn't need immigrant workforce if Thais were paid a proper living wage and given decent housing. Employers lining their pockets are to blame for this pandemic phase and top official party animals havnt helped! Death toll rises as profiteers squabble with big pharma over the proceeds!

Yes there are still many migrant workers, doing jobs that most Thais will not. Building construction

and factory work, is some of those places, as well as the fishing industry that does not pay well.

  I guess it is a bit better than being killed at home in their neighboring country.  With COVID though,

I doubt that many of the poor laborers are feeling safe at all.  Good luck to them all and I hope

that they stay healthy and get their COVID shots.  Aren't all of you posters happy that you are not in their

shoes?

Geezer