Thailand's new labour rules send thousands of migrant workers fleeing

By Amy Sawitta Lefevre

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of workers have fled Thailand, most of them for homes in neighbouring Myanmar, immigration officials said on Monday, after new labour regulations adopted by the military government sparked fear and panic among the migrant community.

 

Millions of workers from poor neighbours, such as Cambodia and Myanmar, form the backbone of Thailand's manual labour force, with industries such as the multi-billion-dollar seafood business heavily reliant on foreign workers.

 

Since taking power in a 2014 coup, Thailand's ruling junta has attained varying degrees of success in campaigns to regulate the foreign workforce, spurred partly by media reports that unregulated workers faced exploitation by employers.

 

About 60,000 workers left between June 23 and 28, and the number has risen since, an Immigration Bureau official said.

 

"They were of all nationalities, but the biggest group was from Myanmar," Deputy Commissioner Pornchai Kuntee told Reuters. "They are probably very scared."

 

Following news of the exodus, Thailand on Friday promised a 120-day delay in enforcing parts of the decree, including fines that can range up to 800,000 baht ($23,557) for employers who hire unregistered foreign workers without permits.

 

Geta Devi, 28, a Myanmar worker based in Bangkok, the Thai capital, said some of her friends panicked after hearing about the decree.

 

"They went back to Myanmar," she added.

 

The mass movement leaves undocumented workers vulnerable, said Andy Hall, a British specialist in migrant workers' rights who has monitored such migration in Thailand for more than a decade.

 

"It's clear to me tens of thousands of migrants only move like this after instigation," Hall, who has worked extensively with Myanmar workers, told Reuters.

 

Despite the threat of punishment, "corrupt officials" would try to take bribes from fleeing migrants, he said.

"Mass profit is to be made in a short time from the panic and commotion," Hall added.

 

Police officers who try to extort money from employers or migrant workers will be punished, Thai police chief Chaktip Chaijinda said on Friday, in a bid to discourage exploitation of undocumented workers.

 

Last month, the United States kept Thailand on a trafficking watch list, saying it did not meet the minimum standards to end human trafficking.

 

Thailand defended its efforts to stop trafficking and urged U.S. officials to visit and gauge its campaign.

 

More than 3 million migrants work in Thailand, the International Organization for Migration has said, but rights groups put the figure higher.

 

($1=33.96 baht)

 

(Additional reporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-07-03

Another own goal. It is amazing how this military regime makes big decisions without ever thinking through the complexities and consequences.

Equally unamazing is PM Prayut making heroic promises to fix these self inflicted bungles but never does.

Thailand, always wants to run. Before it can walk!

58 minutes ago, Cadbury said:

Another own goal. It is amazing how this military regime makes big decisions without ever thinking through the complexities

Equally unamazing is PM Prayut making heroic promises to fix these self inflicted bungles but never does.

"and consequences."

Something totally alien to Thais

Well, if the UK government does the same ,then many Britons would be happy as more jobs are available for local people if they are not fussy or lazy to take over such jobs?

We can only hope that these migrants one day do not need to come to Thailand and put up with its buffoonery and self damaging laws.    Their labour and immigration laws are some of the silliest in all of Asia.

Many East Europeans converged on my City only to be driving buses and Taxis as well as doing great property maintenance work at reasonable rates.

The jobs were there but obviously there were no takers YET,you get local louts complaining about the Poles,The Slovaks the bloody Bulgarians and them Romanians ??????never look inwards and examine their own attitude ?

1 hour ago, Mickmouse1 said:

Well, if the UK government does the same ,then many Britons would be happy as more jobs are available for local people if they are not fussy or lazy to take over such jobs?

You mean like the unfulfilled 6,500 vacancies for NHS nurses since many EU citizens decided to go home, or not come anymore in the first place?

There will be hundreds of fleeing bar owners if the government keeps up this ridiculous and arbitrarily applied rule on bar opening hours. Aren,t rules supposed to make life simpler, more organized, and be for the general public good ?

1 hour ago, Mickmouse1 said:

Well, if the UK government does the same ,then many Britons would be happy as more jobs are available for local people if they are not fussy or lazy to take over such jobs?

Well thats the problem here Thais are expected to fill those jobs i suppose Sadly the gov will get a rude shock Thais will not apply for those jobs Manual labour is not something they like to do

...oh jeepers.... the English teachers are on the planes back home, shouting... <deleted> arce...

So does this mean it will now mean that decent genuine longstay tourists under the age of fifty won't get hassled all the time by Thai immigration.

Somehow I don't think so.

4 hours ago, Just1Voice said:

why  waste  time

1 hour ago, phantomfiddler said:

There will be hundreds of fleeing bar owners if the government keeps up this ridiculous and arbitrarily applied rule on bar opening hours. Aren,t rules supposed to make life simpler, more organized, and be for the general public good ?

They should do, but in this country, there is always people in authority looking for ways to fill there own pockets instead of making things easier for others.

oops

Thailand, always wants to run. Before it can walk!

Thailand has been crawling for 50 years. Time to step it up and mistakes will be made.. Just no more crawling please!

Weird - quite a serious article about the plight of the exploited migrant workers totally high jacked by situations in the UK and the plight of brothel owners ( sorry bars owners ) 

 

Thailand depends on these workers - I am not in the habit of knocking Thais- but they simply will not do the construction work etc. 

The service industries,  hotels etc seem to have staff from Cambodia and more recently the Philippines - what's wrong with working in an hotel- not highly paid- better than being on the streets? 

 

Are we to feel sorry for the bosses threatened with fines as they pay below the minimum wage? 

 

Hopefully will shake things up a bit. 

 

 

 

 

59 minutes ago, possum1931 said:

So does this mean it will now mean that decent genuine longstay tourists under the age of fifty won't get hassled all the time by Thai immigration.

Somehow I don't think so.

What buggs me is that 90 day reporting At least they could make it 6 months especially if u have thai wife and shehas a house You go in there for what i dont know show passport say hi show address book and see u in 90 days

 

1 hour ago, Happyman58 said:

Well thats the problem here Thais are expected to fill those jobs i suppose Sadly the gov will get a rude shock Thais will not apply for those jobs Manual labour is not something they like to do

I found that not working is their favorite goal.

Just now, Joebuzz said:

I found that not working is their favorite goal.

yeah so true Joe Lying in a hammock watch the wife cook food street stall more there style

28 minutes ago, Joebuzz said:

I found that not working is their favorite goal.

unfortunately true, always path of least resistance and as socially standards are low even prostitution is more favourable  .

3 hours ago, phantomfiddler said:

There will be hundreds of fleeing bar owners if the government keeps up this ridiculous and arbitrarily applied rule on bar opening hours. Aren,t rules supposed to make life simpler, more organized, and be for the general public good ?

Yeah how dare the government enforce the opening hours that  are listed on the liquor licenses.

7 hours ago, Cadbury said:

Another own goal. It is amazing how this military regime makes big decisions without ever thinking through the complexities and consequences.

Equally unamazing is PM Prayut making heroic promises to fix these self inflicted bungles but never does.

Why is it an own goal?

Yes Thai employers now have got a problem, they'll have to pay migrant workers a fair wage and make sure they have the correct documentation to work here.. what's wrong with that?

For the migrant workers themselves instead of working in the shadows for a pittance they can get the correct paperwork and return to real jobs with real pay & protection.

If they can't get the correct paperwork then they cannot return & be taken advantage of by Thai employers or traffickers!

This has been long overdue and at last someone has had the balls to do it !

2 hours ago, Happyman58 said:

What buggs me is that 90 day reporting At least they could make it 6 months especially if u have thai wife and shehas a house You go in there for what i dont know show passport say hi show address book and see u in 90 days

 

I think one year should be sufficient.

Yeah how dare the government enforce the opening hours that  are listed on the liquor licenses.

TV farang can not stand the thought that little old reliable 3rd world thailand is moving forward and actually starting to apply the law and at rather a fast pace with the general cracking the whip

It's just not fair [emoji27]

Im expecting a lot of I'm moving to Cambodia posts, at least there I feel loved [emoji3]

14 hours ago, Mickmouse1 said:

Well, if the UK government does the same ,then many Britons would be happy as more jobs are available for local people if they are not fussy or lazy to take over such jobs?

They already did so by leaving Europe. The Polish workers will have to leave.

On 2017-7-3 at 0:12 PM, Cadbury said:

Another own goal. It is amazing how this military regime makes big decisions without ever thinking through the complexities and consequences.

Equally unamazing is PM Prayut making heroic promises to fix these self inflicted bungles but never does.

Why are they leaving,because they are illegal.Up the wages to the correct rate and you will get Thais taking their jobs.

On 2017-7-3 at 5:33 PM, peterb17 said:

Weird - quite a serious article about the plight of the exploited migrant workers totally high jacked by situations in the UK and the plight of brothel owners ( sorry bars owners ) 

 

Thailand depends on these workers - I am not in the habit of knocking Thais- but they simply will not do the construction work etc. 

The service industries,  hotels etc seem to have staff from Cambodia and more recently the Philippines - what's wrong with working in an hotel- not highly paid- better than being on the streets? 

 

Are we to feel sorry for the bosses threatened with fines as they pay below the minimum wage? 

 

Hopefully will shake things up a bit. 

 

 

 

 

The bosses will not pay the right rate,plenty of Thais do construction.