Thailand: poultry workers cry fowl amid claim they 'slept on floor next to 28,000 birds'

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Thailand: poultry workers cry fowl amid claim they 'slept on floor next to 28,000 birds'
Kate Hodal

Workers at farms supplying one of Thailand’s largest chicken export firms say they suffered labour abuses including 22-hour shifts and the seizure of passports

BANGKOK: -- Myint, 50, claims that for four and a half years he worked 22-hour shifts at a poultry farm that supplies one of Thailand’s largest chicken export companies.

By day, says Myint, he would kill up to 500 birds for use in items such as ready meals and pet food. By night – or what little of it they were allegedly afforded – he and his fellow Myanmarese workers claim they slept on the floor in a room with up to 28,000 chickens, swatting away insects. If a bird got sick, they were to blame.

The workers claim that if they were too tired to work, their meagre salaries were docked. If they wanted to leave, too bad – their passports had been confiscated. A once-weekly, two-hour-long supervised visit to a local market for personal groceries was their only opportunity to see the outside world.

Full story: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/aug/01/thai-chicken-farm-workers-slept-on-the-floor-next-to-28000-birds

-- The Guardian 2016-08-01

 

 

 

 

[hanuman2543]

The slave trade is still in full swing, despite the government´s claims that it is eradicated from Thailand. Which industry here is able to do competitive buisiness without treating foreign workers like slaves? Time for Tier 3 again.

Edited August 1, 2016 by hanuman2543

[tx22cb]

Expect to see the usual quick response from the Govt: "Who is this Grauniad journo, and let's ban him/her from Thailand".

[mtls2005]

Has Betagro filed a defamation suit, yet?

 

[ikke]

If they only mention the name of the exporter, that might stop it.......

[fvw53]

May-be they were undergoing vaccination against bird flu 

[ScotBkk]

I've slept with some Foul-Birds too but to be honest I'm trying to forget their names ha-ha ?

[elgordo38]

18 hours ago, ikke said:

If they only mention the name of the exporter, that might stop it.......

Your looking at a rich powerful company hitting you with the biggest lawsuit you have ever seen. Todays news only.

[Basil B]

I would gladly sleep on the floor with a few birds (non feathered verity, of course).

[Basil B]

8 minutes ago, elgordo38 said:

Your looking at a rich powerful company hitting you with the biggest lawsuit you have ever seen. Todays news only.

Even if they put up a case the had no chance in winning they would use the courts to shield them for years and break their accusers...

[bark]

40 minutes ago, elgordo38 said:

Your looking at a rich powerful company hitting you with the biggest lawsuit you have ever seen. Todays news only.

Also, you never know if true. These reporters come to Thailand, to get a story, or make one up.

If someone came to your work and said " You boss work you, very hard ? You boss make you working OT ? etc etc. You answer yes, then there is a story.

Why is there never any stories about Vietnam, China, India. It is because the reporters do not want to go there. But come to Thailand. Great food, bars, girls,good hotels, English speaking people, lots of tourists, great weather, beaches. Come write a story or make it up. But enjoy themselves.

[VN4now]

1 minute ago, bark said:

Also, you never know if true. These reporters come to Thailand, to get a story, or make one up.

If someone came to your work and said " You boss work you, very hard ? You boss make you working OT ? etc etc. You answer yes, then there is a story.

Why is there never any stories about Vietnam, China, India. It is because the reporters do not want to go there. But come to Thailand. Great food, bars, girls,good hotels, English speaking people, lots of tourists, great weather, beaches. Come write a story or make it up. But enjoy themselves.

Of the course the biggest thing made up is YOUR hypothesis about false reports in order to enjoy the splendors of Thailand - like China, India and Vietnam don't have beautiful places. Thailand would be a better destination for sex-tourist writer I suppose; that's something for Thais to be proud of. And being forced to sleep inside a giant chicken coup, having your passport taken and one 2 hour trip away from the farm per week is a long way from being made to work overtime.

[PeeJay1959]

McDonalds is a large importer of Thai chicken products, you can bet they are involved somewhere in this.