Betagro axes Lop Buri supplier
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Betagro Group has frozen its business with a chicken farm in Lop Buri, pending for the completion of an investigation into the farm's alleged abuses of migrant workers.
In a statement released today, the group affirmed its adherence to Thai labour laws and its own labour standards.
Rungroj Tuntivechapikul, vice president for corporate human resources office, said: "The group is ready to amend any breach of governance practices or Betagro's labour standards".
In a separate statement released yesterday, the group called all suppliers to attend an urgent meeting yesterday after a report that its supplier in Lop Buri had abused migrant workers. It said the meeting was to ensure further training and advice on the laws relating to migrant labour as well as contractual obligations.
According to the Migrant Workers Rights Network, the farm in question allegedly imposed tough working conditions on 14 Myanmar nationals and paid them below-market wages.
On Saturday, MWRN reported that a Myanmar worker was arrested in the province for allegedly “stealing” her work time-card from the farm and showed it to the network.
She was in contact with the network to discuss alleged workplace abuses, said MWRN. She claimed she worked from 7am to 5pm and then from 7pm to 5am, and was only allowed to take three days off after 35 consecutive days of work. In May, she was paid Bt4,082 after Bt4,894 was deducted from her salary by her employer.
She was released on Bt75,000 bail and transferred to MWRN's office in Samut Sakhon province on Saturday, along with 13 other Myanmar nationals who reported abuses at the farm. The workers are each seeking Bt300,000 in compensation for years of alleged abuses.
"All workers are now under the care of MWRN in Mahachai [in Samut Sakhon] as we seek to ensure settlements for the workers and help them to find new jobs or return to Myanmar," the agency said in a statement.
Official statistics show about 1.4 million Myanmar nationals work in Thailand while many more are unregistered.
Myanmar workers' rights were the main focus of Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's foreign minister and state counsellor, during her visit to Thailand last week.
