Myanmar migrant workers face deportation

The Thai government announced that Myanmar migrant workers will be arrested and deported if they fail to register under the government’s National Verification Programme (NVP) before a December 14 deadline.

Recently, Thai police had searched and arrested workers in factories and workplaces in Mahachai. Some workers had to hide in mud and palm forest and faced difficulty due to the lack of responsibility of their employers.

A monk named Shwe Ton Tay Sayataw, who is helping Myanmar workers, said “We provided instant noodles and sardines for them. They had to give 15,000 baht to carriers and came with MoU. We want the Thailand government to make it easy for the Myanmar workers.”

According to Thailand’s labour law, the worker can go back to the border and wait for another employer if he or she is not okay with the previous employer after an MoU is signed. Some workers have not returned to the border and lived illegally inside Thailand, a Myanmar worker who doesn’t want to be named, said.

Thailand made labour cards for Myanmar workers in the past and registration fees cost 3,800-5,000 baht. Thailand made NVP for them under a mutual agreement with Myanmar in 2010. But the registration fees for labour card and NVP cost about 10,000 baht, which is too high an expense for them.

According to the labour law, the workers are only allowed to work for one employer who made the certificates for them at the employment office. The workers are facing difficulty because they can’t change their jobs. Thailand has 2 million Myanmar migrant workers and 1.2 million are working legally. About 300,000 workers are living illegally in Thailand, its Ministry of Labour said.