Migrant workers 'unprotected'

The International Labour Organisation has criticised Thailand for failing to include migrant workers in its Workmen's Compensation Fund.

In a report prepared for the 101st Session of the International Labour Conference in Geneva in May, it states that the Social Security Office (SSO), which manages the fund, continues to deny compensation for work accidents to migrants from Myanmar. The ILO claims Thailand is breaching its obligations.

Although the Thai government has compromised by creating a new Work Accident Insurance Fund (WAIF) to ensure compensation coverage for work-related injuries during workers' nationality verification phase, affiliation to the fund is left to the discretion of employers.

In practice, the creation of the WAIF does not bring the government closer to guaranteeing the right to equal treatment of workers, the report says.

The WAIF also risked introducing a double standard of protection by giving employers a legal opportunity not to insure their migrant workers against occupational accidents.

Moreover, the decision to reopen the registration procedure to new undocumented migrants and provide for their voluntary insurance coverage by the WAIF during the nationality verification process may lead to institutionalising discrimination against these workers, the report claims.

Thailand's administrative and labour courts have yet to deliver their final verdicts on whether to repeal the SSO regulations as requested by migrant workers.

Such lawsuits include the cases of Nang Noom, a Shan migrant in Chiang Mai, and Chalee Tiyu, a Myanmar migrant in Pathum Thani, whose medical treatment procedures were complicated and delayed due to the SSO policy.

Sawit Kaewan, secretary-general of the State Enterprise Workers Relations Confederation, which is supporting the migrant workers' lawsuits, said foreign workers who have worked alongside Thai workers in building up our economy continue to suffer systematic discrimination.

" We call on government agencies to eliminate all discriminatory policies and laws, particularly the SSO's regulations that deny migrants access to the WCF," he said.

Mr Sawit also said the WAIF coverage that could be purchased by employers of migrant workers to provide protection for work accidents only covers as few as 3,000 migrants. The majority of more than one million migrant workers continue to be unable to access workplace accident compensation, he said.