Laotian government to open centres for returning Lao workers
The Laotian government this week confirmed it will open centres this month in the Labour and Social Welfare offices of each province across the country aiming to collect statistics and to help workers returning from Thailand, an official said.
The centres will aim to find the exact number of Lao workers in Thailand who need help from the government.
At a meeting in Luang Prabang province from July 10-12, Laos and Thailand also agreed to set up a centre next month in Thailand to upgrade the status of Lao workers currently holding pink cards.
Acting Director General of the Department of Labour Skill Development at Laos Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, Anousone Khamsingsavath spoke to Vientiane Times yesterday via telephone after the meeting with Thai officials in charge of labour management to solve the undocumented workforce problem.
At present, there are around 71,000 Lao workers with pink cards, a temporary identity document, in Thailand. "Local workers cover about 10 percent of the 1.5 million from Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar in Thailand," Anousone said. She also confirmed that only 50 per cent of Lao workers have legally registered to work in Thailand.
According to the agreement which was signed during the three-day meeting in Luang Prabang, the Thai government confirmed the Thai side will open a centre to ensure the legal status of Lao workers who can prove their identity, while Lao authorities have promised to help illegal workers wanting to return home to acquire passports so they can be legally re-employed in Thailand.
Employment Department Director General under the Ministry of Labour of Thailand, Waranan Pitiwan said the Lao government will also issue temporary entry permits to allow workers to return home for five days to acquire a passport before heading back to be re-employed in Thailand. The joint effort is meant to fix the undocumented foreign worker problem in Thailand. He said the Thai government had introduced the pink card for foreign workers without proper documentation as an interim measure to give them time to apply for the required documents including a work permit and visa as well as a passport after confirming their nationality with their country of origin.
"The foreign workers may be able to do some occupations such as work in garment production, but not in making hand-crafted traditional Thai costumes which the law interprets as cultural conservation and only open to Thais," he said.