Samut Sakhon prepares emergency plan for workforce

Labour Minister Phadermchai Sasomsap yesterday commented on the workerassistance measures in Samut Sakhon, which will soon receive floodwater runoff from Bangkok. He said that Labour Ministry permanent secretary Somkiat Chayasriwong and his team visited the province yesterday and met business operators at the two Samut Sakhon industrial estates, which employ some 500,000600,000 workers in total. The operators would find shelters for Thai workers, while the ministry would send immigrant workers to existing shelters in various provinces, he added.

Somkiat said 200300 companies in the industrial estates would provide Thai workers with five or six shelters in Samut Sakhon, while the immigrant workers would be evacuated to Wat Thepnorarat in Tambon Nadee and the Tha Chin Eauarthern housing estate as well as Wat Khlong Madeu. If more space were needed, immigrant workers would be housed at ministry facilities in Ratchaburi and Phetchaburi. As part of a rotation scheme, some would be sent back to their home countries while others would be sent to work for new employers, he added. Samut Sakhon has about 370,000 Thai workers, 210,000 legal immigrant workers and some 100,000 illegal immigrant workers, he said.

Phadermchai also instructed vocational skill development centres in provinces such as Phitsanulok, Si Sa Ket and Mukdahan to produce water filters for flood victims seeking clean water for washing. So far they have built 240 filters – 10 of which were 200litre machines. If all centres helped out, they could produce 100200 machines per day, Phadermchai said. To request a filter, call (02) 248 2222 or 1560.

In related news, an informed source in Tak province reported that 2,000 Burmese workers in Bangkok and its vicinity were returning to Burma daily via the border point in Mae Sot district. A Tak Immigration official reported that so far 6,000 Burmese workers had returned to Burma, and 1,000 Burmese workers were crossing the ThaiBurmese Friendship Bridge every day.