Tuna factory agrees to pay out Bt48million

Hundreds of Myanmar labourers at Golden Prize Tuna Canning, a processing plant that sells fish worldwide, have spent months seeking compensation for exploitative working conditions.
Following a strike last week by more than 1,000 workers, company representatives joined negotiations with military officers, government officials and migrant workers’ leaders, reaching an agreement late on Monday.
“The company began paying 1,100 workers last night from the total of Bt48 million,” Boonlue Sartpetch, the head of the province’s labour department, said on Tuesday. He said 700 workers have been paid, with the rest expected to receive compensation later on Tuesday.
Golden Prize Tuna Canning, whose 2,000 workers hail mostly from Myanmar, declined to comment.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Sek Wannamethee Wednesday hailed the peaceful settlement as a model for future disputes. “The government is committed to using this approach to eliminate labour exploitation and to uplift the quality of life of workers in Thailand,” he said.
Andy Hall, a British labour activist who has been helping the Myanmar workers at Golden Prize Tuna, said he suspects the spectre of costly trade bans was finally forcing the government to act. “To get a dispute like this that involves so much money and actually have it settled is very unprecedented,” he said. But he accused both the tuna company and the local labour department of dodging the workers’ complaints for nearly a year.