Myanmar worker arrested after reporting alleged abuses

According to the Myanmar Workers Rights Network (MWRN), her employer, a poultry farm in the province, filed the charge against her after she showed her timecard to the network. 

She was in contact with the network to discuss alleged workplace abuses, said the network. 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.