CNI News
17 Jan 2023
Among the workers sent to Thailand under the MOU between the two countries, most of them failed to get jobs or jobs described in the employment contracts while some of them were abandoned at roadsides.
Sending Myanmar workers to Thailand under the MOU between the two countries is a proper program carried out under precise terms and conditions of contracts which guarantee specific jobs for workers as soon as they arrive in Thailand.
Failures to provide jobs stated in the contracts are due to the negligence of the labour ministries of the two countries which fail to monitor overseas employment agencies that sent the workers without any accountability and the MOU program might stall if no action is taken against the agencies that fail to abide by rules and regulations, Advisor U Aung Kyaw of the Migrant Workers Rights Network told the CNI.
Myanmar workers waiting to go to Thailand under the MOU program between the two governments.
He said, "Employment contracts under the MOU are written in three languages including Thai, Myanmar and English. Rights of workers under Thai laws are guaranteed in the contracts and every provision of the contracts are precisely stipulated. Then, employers, agencies, workers and a director from the labour ministry are required to signed the contracts. The Ministry of Labour is responsible for monitoring overseas employment agencies, which are also required to register with the ministry. So, the ministry is responsible to take action against agencies. Under the law, workers who go to Thailand under the MOU must not be jobless. Addresses, names of companies and products to be manufactured are precisely stated in the contracts. If the ministries in the two countries enforce the terms and conditions of the contracts, the system will not stall."
If labour ministries from Thailand and Myanmar adopted sound policies and laws to enforce the terms and conditions of employment contracts, workers who were sent under the MOU would not face such issues, according to labour activists for Myanmar workers in Thailand.
Detained Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand.
As workers who were sent under the MOU between the two countries were not employed in accordance with terms and conditions of their employment contracts, they could be assumed as victims of human trafficking, Labour activist Ko Thar Gyi, who has been helping Myanmar workers in Thailand, told the CNI.
He said, "The rule of law has been jeopardized in Myanmar and they are trafficking migrant workers into Thailand under the MOU. As authorities do not take action against the agencies, they are licensed to traffic migrant workers. Before the outbreak of COVID-19, the system of sending workers to Thailand under the MOU was much better because the Ministry of Labour monitored the agencies responsibly. I think effective action should be taken against the agencies."
If the Ministry of Labour has not been able to take action against all agencies that violate rules and regulations, it should take action against one of them as a pilot scheme, labour activists in Thailand said.
Myanmar migrants in front of the Myanmar embassy in Thailand.
Although workers are sent to Thailand under the MOU program, many of them continue to sneak into Thailand illegally as it is too expensive to go to Thailand under the MOU.
U Aung Kyaw of the MWRN said, "Majority of workers are not interested in the MOU program even before the problems arose. Most Myanmar workers do not study the situation thoroughly. They will think they won't get jobs even after going to Thailand under the MOU system by paying a large sum of money and will see the program negatively. They will go to Thailand illegally through fraudster agents. When we are trying to educate them about the advantages of the MOU program, such undesirable problems will force them to choose illegally sneaking into Thailand and the situation will be getting worse."
The program to send Myanmar workers to Thailand was suspended for about three years due to COVID-19 and it has resumed since May 2022.
During the resumption of the program, there were only a few problems like having to work in jobs that are not stated in the employment contracts. but the problems are getting worse and worse recently.
