Camobodia 'slave' Labour In Thailand

[silentnine]

not exactly slave labour but a salary to match !

i was talking to my wife about farming in her region.

one of the things 'she tells' me about is the ability they have to employ a FAMILY of people from Cambodia for 30,000 baht per year ?!

is this correct ? or has she got it wrong. i queried the amount of money and the issue of Cambodians working in Thailand and she tells me its common legal practice for the Cambodians to do this.

the process is they tell the government intermediary what type of family they want, and they are then in effect provided to order.

can't be right ? or can it ?

[ozzydom]

Could very well be, a farm laborer in Cambodia earns about 40 baht per day ,a decent worker in the building industry about 60-70 baht per day, it has just been legislated that permanent employee salary to be 85$ per month (2,800 baht) well up from the present $35-40 (1300 baht ).

[dave_boo]

Leaving aside the ethics issue; can YOU work without a work permit? Especially in farming?

Not saying it doesn't happen and I'm not sure if 30 000 THB/yr is a good salary for a Cambodian (wouldn't think so), but just let it stew for a bit and you'll answer your own question....

[Thongkorn]

My wife worked in a computer factory in Bangkok, One of her friends was Cambodian, she also had Burmese friends, The Thais got a better pay deal than either of the other Immigrants friends. One had walked through the Jungle for three months to Escape the Burmese army, She was happy to work for half the pay of the Thais, Mainly because she was just happy to be alive. So it depends on how you see slave labour,

[makescents]

My wife worked in a computer factory in Bangkok, One of her friends was Cambodian, she also had Burmese friends, The Thais got a better pay deal than either of the other Immigrants friends. One had walked through the Jungle for three months to Escape the Burmese army, She was happy to work for half the pay of the Thais, Mainly because she was just happy to be alive. So it depends on how you see slave labour,

Yeah escaping the Junta justifies a shitty wage.

[backsoon]

Thais have burmese and cambodians.

Americans have mexicans.

Europeans have ex-russians, turks and morroccans.

Russians had (and still have) convicts.

Romans had slaves too. But they could (sometimes) become citizens.

Human nature... not a national trait.

The reversed cycle is also true

[silentnine]

not sure where the question of can a farang work with a work permit comes into this

also it seems that the jobs on the "cannot do list" for work permits don't apply to to other asean countris

and this is not 1 cambodian for 30k baht per year (2.5k per month) this is the whole family !

Leaving aside the ethics issue; can YOU work without a work permit? Especially in farming?

Not saying it doesn't happen and I'm not sure if 30 000 THB/yr is a good salary for a Cambodian (wouldn't think so), but just let it stew for a bit and you'll answer your own question....

[rivers2020]

wonder if the same salary applies to burmese-tai yai home builders here in the chiang mai area?

[silentnine]

yes sir.. please can i order 3 familes to help me build my house

wonder if the same salary applies to burmese-tai yai home builders here in the chiang mai area?

[dave_boo]

not sure where the question of can a farang work with a work permit comes into this

also it seems that the jobs on the "cannot do list" for work permits don't apply to to other asean countris

and this is not 1 cambodian for 30k baht per year (2.5k per month) this is the whole family !

Hmmm....so you assume that the Royal Decree BE 2522 only applies to 'farang'? I've looked at several different law sites, on the chance I was way off base (this one goes into it the most) and it doesn't appear that there's any exceptions just because they're neighbours.

Note that I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but it's technically illegal in the same way prostitution is illegal...

[bina]

moving this to general as not farming related, but labour law related....

bina

[Bluetongue]

not sure where the question of can a farang work with a work permit comes into this

also it seems that the jobs on the "cannot do list" for work permits don't apply to to other asean countris

and this is not 1 cambodian for 30k baht per year (2.5k per month) this is the whole family !

Hmmm....so you assume that the Royal Decree BE 2522 only applies to 'farang'? I've looked at several different law sites, on the chance I was way off base (this one goes into it the most) and it doesn't appear that there's any exceptions just because they're neighbours.

Note that I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but it's technically illegal in the same way prostitution is illegal...

Not sure what the paperwork is but I know that a lot of Cambodians (Kamen) come into Thailand to work, mainly on farms and to a lesser extent building sites and other enterprises as well. Pay rates vary, some farm labour is paid at piece rates such as harvesting potato where a whole group of them will receive 320 baht per ton, other work seems to vary between 120 and 180 per day, as indeed does the rate for Thais which seems to be always a bit higher.

If they go back to the border to "tohk baht" every week the Thais charge them 20baht, the longer the stay the more expensive this becomes, I think the Thai authorities like to keep them on a pretty short leash. Hence I don think they are allowed to travel very far which explains the checkpoints of the border police on the highway here. Also they have to have the Thai employer or rep go with them to the border, in many cases this is an individual similar to what I would call a labour agent, but it can be an individual farmer or farming family as well.

I dont think the terminology includes a work permit, nor does the paperwork include a passport

[samran]

Thailand runs a migrant labour scheme which allows the citizens of burma, laos and cambodia to work in Thailand on extendable 2 year work permits. They allow for the workers to do domestic, office or manual work for a Thai employer. It is generally a good system as it requires the worker to be covered under health insurance and other social insurances.

We employ a Burmese maid this way, and the paperwork, while slightly cumbersome, is fairly straight forward.

[Ciaphas]

We live near the Cambodian boarder and each year about 70 Cambodians jump the boarder to work over harvest season with a few families staying on for planting. They get a pretty good wage compared to Cambodia, the going rate at the moment is 150 bhat per day. When I asked the farmers why they don't employ Thai's they said Thai's wouldn't do it, plus it's hard to find 70 Thai's in the local area as most work in the big cities.