Myanmar workers leave Thailand in despair

[webfact]

Myanmar workers leave Thailand in despair
By Somjit Rungjamrasrassamee
The Nation,
Tak

 

 

TAK: -- Hundreds of Myanmar workers left Thailand Friday via a checkpoint in Tak’s Mae Sot district with disappointment and despair.

 

They were sent back to their homeland by Thai employers worried about hefty fines that the new law on foreign workers imposes. 

 

Taking effect from June 23, the Royal Ordinance on Foreign Workers Management threatens to fine an employer at least Bt400,000 per each illegal worker he or she hires. 

 

“I don’t know why Thailand has decided to impose such heavy penalty,” a Myanmar official said on condition of anonymity as Myanmar authorities extend help to these desperate workers. 

 

Hundreds of food boxes were handed out for free to help these migrants cope. 

 

The official said, “I think such tough law runs against the Thai government’s policies to promote trade and investments”. 

 

Muang Zhor, 25, lamented that he had paid a Bt3,000 brokerage fee but lost money for nothing. 

 

“I was supposed to start working for a factory. But when I arrived there, the factory owner said he did not dare hiring me in the face of tough law,” he said.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/national/30319559

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-06-30

[jaymbkk]

"i don't know why Thailand has decided to impose such heavy penalty" .. come on really ? .. <deleted>

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[whatawonderfulday]

This proves my point exactly from another post that Thailand has been exploiting migrant workers.  The report admits that they were working illegally for Thai companies. If the Thai companies wanted to pay the legal minimum wage, ensure their employees were covered medically then they could have done so , but no exploited them through and through.  No wonder Thailand is on Tier 2. 

[observer90210]

Now this is bad news!....if all the migrants leave, there will be nobody left to get accused of some crime they did not commit!!...

 

Now these workers will need to be replaced? By who? Thais? For the same salary? Doubt it....

 

Obviously costs will increase and price tags too....hey!!...come back!!!

 

 

 

 

[Just1Voice]

Gun....foot....trigger. 

 

[BangkokNicky]

I have been waiting for this to happen for years about time all this stop anyway with a lot of investment happening in  Myanmar it shouldn't take them long to find  new work also Myanmar, Cambodia to launch joint tourism action plan stuff is also happening but will also taking time this seems like a counter measures without involving Thailand anyway .. 

[impulse]

3 hours ago, observer90210 said:

Now these workers will need to be replaced? By who? Thais? For the same salary? Doubt it....

 

It would be devastating to require Thai employers to pay someone a living wage.  May even raise the cost of offering up of a hotel room by 5 or 10 baht, or the cost of a new building by 3 or 4%.

 

Of course, the rich and powerful will jack their prices up significantly more, blame it on wages and cry in their champagne.

 

 

[BuckBee]

^ yep greed at the top is the reason the problem exists, seems fair have a minimum wage for unskilled migrant workers slightly lower than thais with good ground rules stop abuse but as usual thai big boys want it for almost free so they can rake in the baht and live in 15 million baht houses and buy 5 million baht cars, High class thais are generally awfully rich through cheating the systems. No one to blame but themselves and not much chance of a fix without massive social values change .

[SiamBeast]

OMG, being forced to pay a living wage to your employees - what a catastrophe.

[berybert]

'Hundreds of food boxes were handed out for free to help these migrants cope'.

 

They were back in their own country so not migrants.

 

[IMA_FARANG]

In Bangkok, if you look carefully, you can find rundown buildings next to some 5 star tourist hotels, often within a few meters of these "luxury" hotels.  

These cheap hotels are where non-Thai "migrant" workers are housed.

Many of them work as cleaning staff, kitchen staff, and other menial jobs in the nearby 5 star hotels.

Often they make less than the so-called minimum wage.

This is a reality in some of the most expensive  tourist hotels in Bangkok, and probably other "tourist" destinations in Thailand.

Don't be fooled by the 5 star gloss, much of Thai "luxury hotels" are fueled by exploitation of foreign workers as well as poor Thais.

This is the "sharp end" of Western style Capitalism which the foreign tourists never see.

As it says in the Bible, they that hath eyes, let them see, and ears, let them hear.

 

 

 

[YetAnother]

12 hours ago, webfact said:

The official said, “I think such tough law runs against the Thai government’s policies to promote trade and investments”.

cant say it much better than that

[tartempion]

In Bangkok i usually stay in 5* hotels, always tip maid at beginning of stay, always had Thai nationals.


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[LomSak27]

5 hours ago, IMA_FARANG said:

Don't be fooled by the 5 star gloss, much of Thai "luxury hotels" are fueled by exploitation of foreign workers as well as poor Thais.

This is the "sharp end" of Western style Capitalism which the foreign tourists never see.

As it says in the Bible, they that hath eyes, let them see, and ears, let them hear.

 

Obviously you have yet to taste the joys of 1 star to 3.5 star local hotels, usually sino Thai owned and run, they have been employing foreign workers for decades - yes that is an S signifying PLURAL. so after your little hissy fit about "western capitalism",  sky down to where most of the tourists, stay, heh and open your eyes. Those two Myanmar workers on Koh Tao ...they weren't working at a Western owned 5 Star joints ....  ira

[mikebell]

Fill the vacancies with out of work teachers who could not afford the bribe to get a job in a school.

[hansnl]

12 hours ago, BuckBee said:

^ yep greed at the top is the reason the problem exists, seems fair have a minimum wage for unskilled migrant workers slightly lower than thais with good ground rules stop abuse but as usual thai big boys want it for almost free so they can rake in the baht and live in 15 million baht houses and buy 5 million baht cars, High class thais are generally awfully rich through cheating the systems. No one to blame but themselves and not much chance of a fix without massive social values change .

I think the rich, anywhere in the world, are the same.

[wirat69]

13 hours ago, impulse said:

May even raise the cost of offering up of a hotel room by 5 or 10 baht,

That would be far from enough... basic wage 40 baht per hour plus your addition of 10 baht for room 41 baht per hour... even an additional 10 baht per hour for the room would be insufficient ... guess maths was not your best subject!

[impulse]

54 minutes ago, wirat69 said:

That would be far from enough... basic wage 40 baht per hour plus your addition of 10 baht for room 41 baht per hour... even an additional 10 baht per hour for the room would be insufficient ... guess maths was not your best subject!

 

Check your numbers and more importantly your logic.  Specifically, how many hours it takes to clean a room.

 

After 40 years of making my living as a mechanical engineer, I'd put my math skills up against most...

 

[YetAnother]

nice foresight on thailand's part ; explains a lot

[worgeordie]

Next headline, "More companies leave Thailand", they will go where the labour is cheap,

business expansions in Burma,Cambodia and VietNam, Burma and especially VietNam

are soon going to give Thailand a run for its money in the tourist trade,Thailand at the

moment just cannot see that.

regards Worgeordie

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

All these news reports that interview and talk about illegal (un-permitted) workers having to leave their jobs.. That's fine.

 

But I haven't yet seen a single news report interviewing any business /  business owner explaining why they're apparently having to use illegal / unpermitted migrant workers????  Why not hire Thais? And if you can't hire Thais, why not get work permits for the migrants you hire?

 

It is possible there's something wrong in the Thai system here???

 

 

[docshock13]

8 hours ago, NCC1701A said:

whats next? no more raping underage girls?

 

 

Nope. That is likely to continue happening. Though the big message from gov't house is "just don't caught" under threat of being moved to an inactive post or early retirement with full bennies. 

[coulson]

It's ok. Thanks to a44 they can now come back for 119 days.

[trainman34014]

If this means tens of thousands of lazy, idle Thai men will have to stop doing nothing all day but smoking heavily and drinking copious amounts of beer and (what they call) whiskey , then i'm all for it.  

 

The Powers that be are always carping on about they need another 300,000 workers from other countries to work on Infrastructure Projects when at least a third of Thai men do as little as possible when it comes to 'working' for a living.   Much easier for them to send their Wives out to work up to 16 hours a day for peanuts....just enough peanuts to buy more beer and smokes !

[Krataiboy]

Yeah, but. . . 

 

The shape of the Cha Am skyline has changed dramatically,  largely thanks to the efforts of hordes of immigrant workers (mainly, I gather, from Myanmar) imported by Thai real estate firms to build ritzy condos for wealthy Thais and falangs

 

Not just the construction companies, but also the national and local economy are clearly benefiting from the presence of these friendly, hard-working folk. Their improvised corrugated iron "village" of shacks and shops, with signs in Thai, English and Myanmar, is now firmly established as a colourful and lively addition to the local community.

 

I have no idea of all or any of these hard-working, friendly folk have the proper papers. But, irrespective of their legal status, there can be no denying the valuable contribution they have made - and are still making - to the prosperity of this corner of the Kingdom. 

 

What a tragedy it would be for the graceful edifces they helped create to end up, literally, as monuments to their callous treatment by an ungrateful ASEAN neighbour.

[Deli]

ASEAN ?

Failed as the CE has failed now

[NoshowJones]

6 hours ago, Oziex1 said:

It amazes me how migrants all over the world are exploited by employers always at the expense of the jobs for local workers and often with the blessing of the Government.

 

We are a greedy bunch of a holes.

Capitalism is about the biggest disease in the world.

[rijb]

8 minutes ago, possum1931 said:

Capitalism is about the biggest disease in the world.

It beats religion

 

[NoshowJones]

1 minute ago, rijb said:

It beats religion

 

Yes, possibly.

[speedtripler]

10 hours ago, berybert said:

'Hundreds of food boxes were handed out for free to help these migrants cope'.

 

They were back in their own country so not migrants.

 

Maybe they gave them the boxes on  the Thai side?