Thai Slave Workers In California To Get Help

[george]

Thai slave workers in California to get help

BANGKOK: -- Thailand's Ministry of Labour is coordinating with the Thai consulate in Los Angeles to find ways to help 48 Thai welders who were lured to the US by a suspected labour trafficker and forced to live in squalor, a senior ministry official said Sunday.

Permanent Secretary for Labour Chuthatawat Indrasuksri said the ministry was finding out if any of the 48 workers want to return to Thailand or otherwise need help.

If the workers are members of a fund set up to assist overseas Thai workers, they will receive compensation and travelling expenses to return home, Mr. Chuthatawat said.

"The ministry has sufficient information to prove that offences (have taken place) and lead to the punishment of the culprits. But it is preferable to keep it confidential for the time being," Mr. Chuthatawat said.

Reports by international news services published in newspapers in the Thai capital Sunday said a statement was issued by the United States federal government's Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) saying it had reached a settlement with Trans Bay Steel Inc, which agreed to pay US$1 million in compensation to the 48 Thai workers who were brought to the US in 2002.

The statement said Trans Bay Steel hired the workers after receiving a sub-contract to provide services to rebuild the aging San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge in northern California. Two separate recruiting companies, Kota Manpower and Hi Cap Enterprises, were then hired to bring the workers from Thailand.

The EEOC alleged the Thai workers hired by the Trans Bay Steel Inc. had been held against their will, their passports confiscated and their movements restricted. Even worse, they had worked without pay for long periods of time.

Supat Kukhun, director of the Ministry's Office of Overseas Employment Administration, said there are now more than 100,000 Thai students and workers living in Los Angeles and more than 90 per cent of them went there without passing through proper channels or procedures.

Mr. Supat urged Thais wishing to work in the US to study American working procedures and labour practices first so that they would not fall prey to illegal manpower firms.

--TNA 2006-12-10

[johna]

It would be very nice to hear that the Thai Ministry of Labour had as much concern for the treatment of Burmese workers etc, in this country.

[chownah]

It would be very nice to hear that the Thai Ministry of Labour had as much concern for the treatment of Burmese workers etc, in this country.

Great observation!!!!