Foreign media ‘slave labour report unfair’

[spermwhale]

If it weren't for foreign news outlets, the truth in Thailand would never get out because the Thai media has no serious investigative journalists. I've worked at both the Nation and the Bangkok Post, and I'll tel you the reporters are spoon-fed stories and don't bother to make follow up calls or call people with opposing points of view.

I've been to press conferences where Thai reporters don't dare ask questions.

Thai reporters are lazy and they only cover what they are told to cover. And I had many discussions with the Thai editors of both newspapers about amazing transgressions by government officials and business leaders when I was working at the papers and I asked why they didn't report on them. The answer: It's too sensitive!!!!

So yeah. Poor F***N Thailand's being exposed and the leadership doesn't like it because it makes Thailand look bad. And all these efforts now to "clean up" industry and root out slavery and worker abuses is not being done out of the kindness of the government's hearts. They don't give a rat's A** about these people. They are only doing it so they don't get downgraded on some list or so they don't lose preferred trading status.

[spermwhale]

They threw the slaves, who had no recourse, into jail and fined them over 100k baht, which they can never repay, making them examples for others who might tell foreigners the truth.

Work until you die, or go to jail.

SImple.

Sick.

Exactly. After exposing their employer they're tossed in the can for immigration violations. If you've ever questioned yourself about the Sh**hole status of Thailand, you shouldn't because you are correct.

[EyesWideOpen]

It's a real problem for the Government. How do you send external organisations and countries for attitude adjustment? So unfair to Thailand.

Yes I can see the problem....... Maybe send teams of crack Thai commandos abroad

to straighten out organizations that would dare to be critical of Thailand. Or carefully

keep a list of these people, keep quiet, and then throw them in jail here when they come

for a holiday. Ah decisions decisions...

[jcsmith]

Cue 5+ articles in the next week about how the Junta is capturing slavers and how much things have improved, and at least two polls about how people don't feel slavery is a major problem. The problem is that these actions only happen in response to negative press or threats of bans.

Edited December 20, 2015 by jcsmith

[elgordo38]

"The team is overseen by Deputy Prime Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan."

Well, that's a compelling title that does little to inspire sympathy.

Careful he could be another asylum seeker in OZ.

[MaiChai]

I think its cultural. In a society where equality is alien, money dictates everything, and the poor are serfs to the rich, then the rich would not understand equal rights, human trafficking and slavery. Thus in the minds of the business owners there is nothing wrong, and its the western ideology at fault? That's why nothing will change and the business owners will try and hide what is going on.

Edited December 20, 2015 by MaiChai

[mogo51]

Does the Government think this is a Peter Pan movie. Boo Hoo about them not liking what is written.

[gemguy]

True, true, true ...all of what is said is true and of course the wrongs should be righted...right?

Several months or certainly several years down the road the sea food consuming public at large will be bitterly complaining about the cost of seafood while these particular sea food industry issues presently on hand and needing to be addressed at present are in part, and a fairly major part, of why and how seafood prices are NOT as expensive as they are going to be in the future under a properly regulated and or properly enforced sea food industry here in Thailand or the South East Asian region for that matter.

Having said that I whole heartedly agree that the slave labor and human rights issues supersedes all other matters of importance while the gross profiteering needs to be stopped as soon as possible.... somehow, some way.

Meantime I am just pointing out the end results will be notably higher seafood product prices and or disruptions in the seafood products supply chain and possibly less of the product available than anticipated, further pushing up the prices of seafood.

As I seldom eat seafood ( but still also guilty of consumption ) I am not concerned about the price but for those that are big lovers of seafood and partake on a regular basis then you better brace yourself for much higher prices and or eat far less seafood.

Besides....at the rate they are depleting the seafood stock, regardless of labor issues and human rights issues, there will be near zero seafood products left to consume in abundance in 20 to 30 years from now while all the seafood consumers will be blaming the fishing industry ( of course ) and government bodies ( of course ) as if the sea food consumers themselves were innocent of any wrong doing and or deny any culpability in the rapid depletion of the sea food around the world.

Just pointing out the obvious

What to do...what to do.

Cheers

Edited December 20, 2015 by gemguy

[TPI]

what, pray tell are the supporters of slave labour doing, the governments that do nothing, the consumers who buy the products. Nothing would help Thailand rid themselves of this more effectively than a helping hand in the form of not using the goods by those that currently do.

That is a very uninformed post - it ignores mny issues and the fact that the EU and other governments ARE doing quite a lot.......it's not just an open and shut case.

The fact that slavery existits in any form in Thailand means that the govt of Thailand is not doing enough! The companies involved are breaking Thai and International law. Police and Military combined investigation of every complaint could happen in what, 14 days? Arrest the factory managers and then whoever is connected to the crime, charge them with "Treason against the State", put them in jail for 20 years, problems solved....sanctions by customers starting on the 1st of Jan, problem solved by the 31st of Jan!

Anything less is active collusion in the crime and let the punishment fit the crime!!

It is an open and shut case!!

[jaywalker]

To be fair, I do think they do have a point.

Getting the ranks mixed up is indeed very unfair reporting.

"Major Problem"? Very, very unfair.

Wouldn't it be much fairer to call it a "General Problem" ?

The Generals will be all right.

It is the Majors who will cop it ( if anyone does)

So perhaps it will turn out to be a Major problem after all!

A few majors & perhaps a Lt. Colonel or 2 might get tossed under the bus.

It will never be a general problem though.

[Artisi]

The major problem in all this reporting, criticism etc., is the west just doesn't understand Thainess

[kingalfred]

And those who run the country

Edited December 20, 2015 by kingalfred

[mikiea]

The truth always hurts!

there are boats , there are slaves on them , not much else to say . sympathy for who is the general asking for ? the slaves ? I think not .

[jaywalker]

It's a real problem for the Government. How do you send external organisations and countries for attitude adjustment? So unfair to Thailand.

Yes I can see the problem....... Maybe send teams of crack Thai commandos abroad

to straighten out organizations that would dare to be critical of Thailand. Or carefully

keep a list of these people, keep quiet, and then throw them in jail here when they come

for a holiday. Ah decisions decisions...

John Oliver will never be able to set foot in Thailand.

Foreign (American w/ a British accent) comedian that BURNED his bridges as far as ever visiting Thailand.

Look him up on Youtube.

[klauskunkel]

I can see the bewildered look in the eyes of the government as it realizes that their very own cultural motto "up to you" has turned on them and is now chewing on their collective bottom, as it is totally "up to them" to address their slavery crimes their companies, countrymen and officials have created over the decades. Oh, the Unfairness of it all.

[jaywalker]

I can see the bewildered look in the eyes of the government as it realizes that their very own cultural motto "up to you" has turned on them and is now chewing on their collective bottom, as it is totally "up to them" to address their slavery crimes their companies, countrymen and officials have created over the decades. Oh, the Unfairness of it all.

Do a Google image search for "Thailand Bewilderment".

You don't have to scroll down very far to find Uncle-You-Know-Who.

[Benmart]

Handy phrases for everyday use:

It is a hub

It takes time

It is not not fair

I was misquoted

They are mistaken

Please understand

Please sympathize

We are concerned

We will crack down

It is being looked into

They do not understand

The report is inconclusive

That's not what was meant

They are being transferred

We will be making a sweep

It is not the way we do things

They will be punished severely

We are proceeding with actions

The situation is being looked into

Rarely used phrases:

I am sorry

They are right

We don't know

I am responsible

There is truth to that

We made a mistake

We used bad judgement

What we did was not thought out

The person in question has been fired

Here is what we are doing to correct this

The person in question has been charged

The ring leaders have been arrested and are pending trial

The person has been found guilty and will be serving will serving (x=number of) years in prison

[Just1Voice]

The writers of the article just don't understand. Translated = They told the truth, and you can't stand it.

[jaywalker]

True, true, true ...all of what is said is true and of course the wrongs should be righted...right?

Several months or certainly several years down the road the sea food consuming public at large will be bitterly complaining about the cost of seafood while these particular sea food industry issues presently on hand and needing to be addressed at present are in part, and a fairly major part, of why and how seafood prices are NOT as expensive as they are going to be in the future under a properly regulated and or properly enforced sea food industry here in Thailand or the South East Asian region for that matter.

Having said that I whole heartedly agree that the slave labor and human rights issues supersedes all other matters of importance while the gross profiteering needs to be stopped as soon as possible.... somehow, some way.

Meantime I am just pointing out the end results will be notably higher seafood product prices and or disruptions in the seafood products supply chain and possibly less of the product available than anticipated, further pushing up the prices of seafood.

As I seldom eat seafood ( but still also guilty of consumption ) I am not concerned about the price but for those that are big lovers of seafood and partake on a regular basis then you better brace yourself for much higher prices and or eat far less seafood.

Besides....at the rate they are depleting the seafood stock, regardless of labor issues and human rights issues, there will be near zero seafood products left to consume in abundance in 20 to 30 years from now while all the seafood consumers will be blaming the fishing industry ( of course ) and government bodies ( of course ) as if the sea food consumers themselves were innocent of any wrong doing and or deny any culpability in the rapid depletion of the sea food around the world.

Just pointing out the obvious

What to do...what to do.

Cheers

Interesting point.

Brazil was the last country to "Officially" outlaw slavery in the 1880's (1888 I think it was), as the Industrial Revolution just made the concept of slavery less than feasible.

It cost more to feed and house slaves than machines.

One can only assume that there's more money in it (in Thailand) to use people instead of machines, which puts their mindset back into the age of Django.

[JoeLing]

Handy phrases for everyday use:

It is a hub

It takes time

It is not not fair

I was misquoted

They are mistaken

Please understand

Please sympathize

We are concerned

We will crack down

It is being looked into

They do not understand

The report is inconclusive

That's not what was meant

They are being transferred

We will be making a sweep

It is not the way we do things

They will be punished severely

We are proceeding with actions

The situation is being looked into

Rarely used phrases:

I am sorry

They are right

We don't know

I am responsible

There is truth to that

We made a mistake

We used bad judgement

What we did was not thought out

The person in question has been fired

Here is what we are doing to correct this

The person in question has been charged

The ring leaders have been arrested and are pending trial

The person has been found guilty and will be serving will serving (x=number of) years in prison

Sorry mate but you forgot those sentences with the word "Clarifying" in it.

[Kaalle]

UNFAIR? Then what is fair? If the media did not help to expose this, all the slave workers would be perpetually suffered in silence and the concerned government officials together with their cronies are reaping in big money.

Fair according to them is adhering to the pillar of thai culture i.e making sure nobody looses face.

[bkk75]

Then make your reports and findings more transparent.

[Echo Tango]

They had underage girls working (slaving) in one of those factories. Jerks!

[BestBitterPhuket]

Shooting the messenger is the Thai way. They are unable to address and deal with their problems in a rational manner, and will therefore NEVER develop out of their third world country status.

[bitcoinforever]

thailand poor thailand always being picked on. no you were an American client state so you were able to sell your slave labor products to the U.S. because you were a client state not because of smart business sense. now you are in bed with the Chinese not an American client state they do not need your slave labor products . Go sell them to the Chinese , if you can with the same profit margins doubt it very much . School children in American are making this look the dolphin net campaign with tuna remember that Your done in the American customers eyes BYE BYE good luck That is why recently Thai company bought bumble bee tuna knows thai products with not enter America any longer this is just a start.

Edited December 20, 2015 by bitcoinforever

[Emster23]

"I am not concerned about the price but for those that are big lovers of seafood and partake on a regular basis then you better brace yourself for much higher prices and or eat far less seafood."

I have no problem paying more if I know that the workers are not slaves. Higher cost of seafood may even mean less fish are caught as "true price" of catch reflected in price as opposed to workers "absorbing" some of the costs as " benefit" of slavery. Pathetic if some would complain about paying more for tub tim every few weeks because those who supply the grub are paid a living wage by free choice in employment.

[crazygreg44]

you don't have even to look at slave labour. You could just walk around every corner in a city, walk up any construction compound and ask any of the cambodian and burmese workers on site, if they REALLY get paid the country's LEGAL minimum wage.

Oh, of course we get paid 300 THB a day, Yes Sir, we were told so.

underpaid slaves, no choice in their own country and deliverd to Thailand with no choice either than to run the mill ?

Edited December 20, 2015 by crazygreg44

[jaywalker]

Handy phrases for everyday use:

It is a hub

It takes time

It is not not fair

I was misquoted

They are mistaken

Please understand

Please sympathize

We are concerned

We will crack down

It is being looked into

They do not understand

The report is inconclusive

That's not what was meant

They are being transferred

We will be making a sweep

It is not the way we do things

They will be punished severely

We are proceeding with actions

The situation is being looked into

Rarely used phrases:

I am sorry

They are right

We don't know

I am responsible

There is truth to that

We made a mistake

We used bad judgement

What we did was not thought out

The person in question has been fired

Here is what we are doing to correct this

The person in question has been charged

The ring leaders have been arrested and are pending trial

The person has been found guilty and will be serving will serving (x=number of) years in prison

Probably the best post of 2015 Benmart.

Edited December 20, 2015 by jaywalker

[Rorri]

Breath taking audacity.

Not only is it refuting the claim .

Much the same a drunk denies he is intoxicated while authorities then show him the breath test results.

But the sheer hide to then call those results irresponsible and damaging to reputation.

What planet are these people on?

Last I looked they are on Tier 3 the lowest of human rights abuse level.

Envoy's repeatedly point it out.

EU ..UN ..US ...

Banned from setting foot in Australia .

And graveyards and military involvement uncovered.

And here we have the delusional sincere looking General not only deny the reckless behaviour but insist the broken laws are not their doing or rewrite the involvement by now calling such claims irresponsible .?

What's to deny.?

It's their " dead slaves"" ...unearthed

It's been documented.

Involvement checked and confirmed.

What next Farangs make it up.?

Not only are these people human rights abuses they clearly deserve the next step for the utter arrogance.

Sanctions

Perhaps it's time the UN took Thailand to the international courts, in the Hague, the guilty can then be charged, and if found guilty, hung sentenced.

[Aussieroaming]

Foreign media slave labour report unfair

Slave labour is unfair....d**kheads