Immigrant workers find heaven in Thailand

 

 

Language was the biggest obstacle, he said. He overcame the obstacle, thanks to the employer who kindly taught him Thai. In a year, he was able to speak and listen to Thai language. 

He recalled that his parents told him when he was 17 to look for a job in Thailand because there was no job and no money in Myanmar. In the past five years, he visited his hometown twice.

“Living in Thailand is comfortable. At first I missed home, but now I don’t anymore,” he added.

Solah Por is among 2.2 million immigrant workers in Thailand, who are mostly nationals of Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, according to Thailand’s Labour Ministry records.  It is estimated that over 1 million Myanmar nationals are working in Thailand, mostly in Mahachai, Samut Sakhon where many seafood factories are located.

In any country, workers are expected to stage a rally to mark the May Day. As Thai workers are expected to voice grievances over low pays against the rising cost of living on May Day, many immigrant workers in Thailand are struggling to make ends meet with little complaints. To these workers, Thailand is a still a better place to work compared to their own countries.

“Poverty had driven me here, said Chai, 27, who left Cambodia 3 years ago.

“I have children and a wife to take care of. I want to save up so my kids could get good education and better life, unlike mine,” said Chai as he traded his labour at a construction site on Bang Na-Trat Road. There weren’t many jobs in Cambodia and those available were low-paid ones, he said, Thailand had plenty of better-paid jobs. 

“I want to be a Thai national,” he said adding that a worker’s daily wage was Bt100 in Cambodia, compared to Bt300 in Thailand. 

But it wasn’t all rainbow and butterfly to work here. 

Chai said he was cheated, unable to get paid on the first day in Thailand. He had experienced that from time to time but he had no choice. If he weren’t paid as promised, he would just move elsewhere. “There are places with jobs for you here,” he added.

Saknarong Payungsak, a representative of a Myanmar worker organisation in Thailand, noted that cheating is the most frequent form of troubles for the immigrant workers. Despite the legal minimum wage, most of them earn less than that. Even with Bt300, they can barely make ends meet, he said. When the wage was Bt150-Bt200 a day, they earned more from overtime pays. Now, some earn Bt300 without any OT pays. 

"Whenever they complain, they face a threat. That scares them to death."

Raks Thai Foundation official Wanna Butseng, who oversees immigration workers in the east coast (Trat and Chanthaburi), said there are about 50,000 immigrant workers in the two provinces, mostly Cambodians from Koh Kong and Mon-ethnic Myanmar workers. Only 10,000 hold legal documentation, she said. 

Most of them are in the fishery and farming sectors. Drug abuse, alcoholism and fist-fighting are the most usual problems of these workers. 

“These workers are happy with kind employers and if there is any problem, they can just cross the border back home,” she said.