CNI News
18 Oct 2022
The number of Myanmar fishery workers who were sacked in Thailand has been increasing, labour activists for Myanmar migrant workers in the kingdom told the CNI.
Fishing companies have decreased the number of fishing boats since June and fishery workers were sacked or did not get full wages, Labour Activist U Min Oo of the FED told the CNI.
He said, “If the companies have five fishing boats, they currently operate only three boats. So, they sacked the workers from the two boats. Actually, they are required to tell their workers one month ahead of their dismissals and to pay one month’s wages. They failed to follow the rules. Most fishing company owners do not understand the rules. Fishing company owners do not communicate with their workers because they have their managers, clerks and foremen, who are responsible for wages and labour rights of their workers. We don’t know whether they do not know the rules or they don’t want to give compensation to their workers.”
A fishery worksite.
Many Myanmar fishery workers were sacked while some of them were suspended from their jobs.
Moreover, job contracts signed between the workers and their employers are mostly kept by the latter and it is difficult to file complaints to authorities. So, some workers are losing their rights, labour activists told the CNI.
Most Myanmar fishery workers do not have skills required for other jobs but they can get jobs on other fishing boats if they have necessary documents, U Min Oo told the CNI.
Myanmar workers from factories were also frequently sacked by Thai employers, labour activists told the CNI.
A female fishery worker at her worksite. (DW)
Some Myanmar migrant workers signed documents given by their employers without understanding what is written in them and were later sacked, Labour Activist U Ba Yee of the MWRN told the CNI.
“The main problem is that they signed documents they did not understand. Under the Thai Labour Law, employers are required to give compensation to workers when they sack them. So, they lost their compensations and their rights. If they are eligible to get Baht 50,000 compensation, they will get Baht 10,000 only because they signed the documents they did not understand. Their employers are sacking them by just giving bus fares.”
Thailand is one of the countries that employ the largest numbers of Myanmar migrant workers. Millions of Myanmar migrant workers including undocumented ones are working Thailand.
As most Myanmar migrant workers do not understand laws in Thailand, they are being exploited by their employers.
