Over 500 workers become unemployed

Report by Zaw Gyi

Tuesday, 19 October 2010 14:32 -

Over 500 Burmese migrant workers, working in the fish net factory in Khon Khang near the
Thai-Laos border, have been rendered unemployed after the factory owner cancelled  their work
permits.

The factory owner canceled the permits of the labourers, who wanted to quit their jobs,
because they were suffering human rights violations, Ma Thet Thet Oo from a labour group
said.

“After the workers quit, the factory started facing losses and came to the verge of closure. So,
the owner cancelled his quota of hiring migrant labourers. As a result, 569 workers have no
work permit to work in Thailand and are unemployed,” she said.

Though the owner accepted the workers request to quit, the labourers continued to live in the
factory compound because they did not get their documents and salaries.

The owner was against the workers living in his factory compound. If they had to stay they
would have to pay 40 Baht per day.

So, the workers moved to Par Nan Buddhist temple this morning. They will sue the factory
owner and others responsible in a court for human rights violation, Ko Myint Maung, a labour
leader, said.

“We want to take legal recourse in court for rights violations. We plan to sue all of them,” he
added.

According to Thai labour laws, if the owner wants to cancel work permits, he has to inform the
workers at least one to three months ahead, Ko Nick from MAP said.

“Nobody can cancel or keep the documents of workers, according to the law. In this case, the
factory owner is in the wrong. The owner did not inform workers in advance about cancelling
their work permit. So, they can take the owner to court,” he added.

Ko Myint said each worker is to get 4,800 Baht from the owner. The owner has not given them
the remaining salary yet. He lied that he transferred the salary from an ATM.

“According to our agreement, the owner doesn’t transfer money from ATM to ATM. He pays
directly to us. But, he lied that he transferred the money from ATM to ATM. We quit our jobs and
we don’t have ATM cards. We have requested the owner to hand over the money to us,” a
worker said.

It is learnt that workers will continue to fight until they get their full salaries.

After they get their salaries from the owner, they will go back to Maesod and try for new jobs
after applying for new work permits.

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Over 500 workers become unemployed

Report by Zaw Gyi

Tuesday, 19 October 2010 14:32 -

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