Condo Builders Using Foreign Workers From Cambodia

[balo]

Near my condo in soi watboon ,Jomtien, there is a camp with foreign workers , today cambodian workers came to my room to fix my floor. I noticed they didnt speak thai, and they confirmed they were from Cambodia . Matrix is the company behind Park Lane and Paradise Park.

They did the work ok , I just wonder if its legal for the building company to hire Cambodians ?

Edited March 21, 2013 by balo

[Crossy]

Most of the labour that built our house were Khmer, Thai supervisors.

They did an excellent tidy job, Wifey uses the boys for after hours labour for a bit of extra cash (they live in the Wat next door).

They were arrested en-mass a couple of times, our contractor just went and bailed them all out, apparently it's cheaper to pay the fines occasionally than it would be to make them legal.

[LennyW]

Why do you think the queues at Jomtien immigration are getting longer by the day??

Every time another one of these blocks of flats gets launched where do you think the labour force comes from?

Next time it takes you a few hours to do your 90 day reporting check out the "agents" in front of you with 20 - 30 red passports in their hands!!

And yes it is legal to use them as long as they are registered, the majority are, but obviously the ones that get "rounded up" now and then are not.

[BlackPuddingBertha]

As far as I know this is extremely common indeed.

[ShopBoy]

They are everywhere not only repairing your door or other construction work.

Dishwasher, waitress, other manual work or even the chef who cooks my basil pork over rice down my street are from Cambodia.

Legal or not as long they get my work done at a fair Thai price i am happy.

[colinp]

deleted as probably shouldn't name any specific company.

Edited March 21, 2013 by colinp

[BrianCR]

Most of the labour that built our house were Khmer, Thai supervisors.

They did an excellent tidy job, Wifey uses the boys for after hours labour for a bit of extra cash (they live in the Wat next door).

They were arrested en-mass a couple of times, our contractor just went and bailed them all out, apparently it's cheaper to pay the fines occasionally than it would be to make them legal.

Making then "legal" and with them having no legal documentation costs 3,900 baht per year! Edited March 21, 2013 by BrianCR

[Crossy]

Most of the labour that built our house were Khmer, Thai supervisors.

They did an excellent tidy job, Wifey uses the boys for after hours labour for a bit of extra cash (they live in the Wat next door).

They were arrested en-mass a couple of times, our contractor just went and bailed them all out, apparently it's cheaper to pay the fines occasionally than it would be to make them legal.

Making then "legal" and with them having no legal documentation costs 3,900 baht per year!

Hey, don't shoot the messenger

It's still cheaper to pay 1k per worker once or twice a year when they get picked up.

[chiang mai]

This is common place all over Thailand, the OP should look in the evning or first thing in the morning for pickup trucks loaded/jam packed with workers wearing blue sweatshirts, this is the construction crew going to work/going home.

[samran]

Thailand allows workers from Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia to work under what is called the 'Migrant Labour Registration Scheme'.

Gives them 2 year work permits, access to social services, medical coverage etc.

[meatboy]

the op needs to be at immigration when the one in front opens up their brief case and out pops 20 or more passports.

happened to me twice.

[balo]

Ok I understand now, so its completely legal for the construction companies to use Cambodians, I was just thinking that some Thais might protest against this.

I am sure that Matrix saves a lot of money and one of the reasons why the condos are cheaper to buy .

Edited March 22, 2013 by balo

[chiang mai]

Ok I understand now, so its completely legal for the construction companies to use Cambodians, I was just thinking that some Thais might protest against this. I am sure that Matrix saves a lot of money and one of the reasons why the condos are cheaper to buy .

Historically, many countries have a poorer near neighbour country that supplies workers for those jobs that the local population doesn't want to do. In Thailand it's Cambodia and Myanmar, in the US it's Mexico, in the UK historically it was Ireland, and so on. The problems with that type of arangment are that either the cheap labour gets accustomed to the host country and swamps them with workers who want to stay, aka the US/Mexican workers, and/or, the host economy is threatened when the guest workers return to their own country en-masse, aka Thailand/Myanmar.

[Theo007]

Difficult sometimes to find Thais will to work. At present my condo has two staff vacancies which have been advertised but nobody interested.

[LennyW]

Do a google search "labour shortage in Thailand" it would appear there is a huge shortfall in semi-skilled and un-skilled labour.

[chiang mai]

Do a google search "labour shortage in Thailand" it would appear there is a huge shortfall in semi-skilled and un-skilled labour.

And this will not be tolerated since it cuts into profits in a big way, "I simple cannot imagine what will happen if we have to start paying even half the daily minimum wage per day, house prices will skyrocket", said one property developer.