Labour groups urge fair treatment of migrant workers

The labour groups attending the session organised by the National Human Rights Commission included the Thai Labour Solidarity Committee (TLSC), the State Enterprises Workers' Relations Confederation (SERC) and the Foundation for Human Rights and Development (FHRD).

They suggested that the government recruit private companies to carry out the registration, but keep regulations in place to stop them overcharging the workers. The labour leaders advised the government to have the companies registered with and supervised by the Department of Employment.

Thailand and Burma should also hold a meeting to deal specifically with crossborder registration and other issues regarding Burmese migrant workers.

The Labour Ministry should engage in a proactive public relations campaign, such as producing pamphlets in the Burmese language, to encourage voluntary registration. It should also give Thai employers incentives to register their workers.

The FHRD's Somchai Homlaor said migrant workers should be provided with adequate public health services once they have registered.

The TLSC's Chalee Loisoong said migrant workers should get the same benefits that Thai employees are entitled to.

Sathien Thanphrome, of the Operational Network for Overseas Labour, said the repatriation of Burmese workers should at least be slowed down if not halted.

Labour Ministry official Anrak Thossarak said that about 140,000 Burmese workers had passed the nationality verification process endorsed by the Burmese Embassy. However, he said, there were still 20 large cardboard boxes full of applications that could not be processed because of the lack of personal verification details.

Fifteen Thai companies are vying for the job of carrying out the verification process and many are offering to halve their service charges to beat the competitors.