Govt seeks deal with Burma to import 200,000 workers

If the plan, which was drawn up to address a labour shortage in the Kingdom, is approved, the workers would be flown directly from Burma to Bangkok, as large numbers of workers are available in Burma’s cities and are ready to be employed immediately, Anusorn Kraiwatnusorn said. 

There are not enough labourers living in Burma’s border provinces to meet the needs of Thai largescale employers, while processing citybased workers to enter Thailand through the border would be timeconsuming, inconvenient and expensive, he said.

Burmese Deputy Labour Minister Mynt Teng met with Thai Labour Minister Phadermchai Sasomsap on Wednesday to discuss the agenda of the meeting, to be held at an as yet unspecified location and time. New labour issues will be discussed in addition to existing arrangements, Anusorn said.

Burma has requested an extension of the identityverification period for Burmese nationals working in Thailand from an earlier deadline of June 14, Teng said, due to a delay in opening new verification centres in Bangkok, Samut Prakan, Samut Sakhon, Chiang Mai and Surat Thani. Anusorn said the centres should begin verification work next week. 

The extension request – which would be submitted to a government committee on illegal migrant workers – was deemed necessary because the time left between next week and June 14 is insufficient to verify the nationalities of 851,830 foreign workers registered with Thai authorities, more than 540,000 of whom are Burmese. Only 33,604 Burmese and 103 Laotians have been verified. The likely date of the extended deadline has not been decided.

Teng asked the Thai ministry to add the following conditions to employment deals between Burmese workers and Thai bosses: that contracts could be revoked or ended prematurely after six months on mutual consent when Thai bosses abuse Burmese workers physically; the Thai employer dies or terminates the business; or the employer violates the Thai Labour Law.

Another problem in need of solving is that most Burmese workers flee their workplaces shortly before their fouryear work visas end, because they do not want to be sent back. A workingage range of between 2035 years should be officially designated and approved by the Thai government committee, Anusorn quoted Teng as saying.

Another problem was that an unfair situation is created when employers hire workers who have fled existing contracts or workplaces, because the new bosses do not face the cost burden of importing the Burmese worker. This burden, paid by the original employers to jobplacement companies, can involve a payment of up to Bt20,000 per head. An orientation session should be given to all Burmese workers to tell them that reapplying for a new job after fleeing was illegal, Anusorn said.