EDITORIAL

EDITORIAL
Stop the abuse of migrant workers
Thais remain ignorant of the massive contribution made to our economy by foreign labourers

Published on December 19, 2007
Not only do Thais fail to acknowledge the many positive contributions made to this country by foreign workers, but many also perpetuate prejudices against them. Thailand's lack of a coherent policy on migrant workers from neighbouring countries, who come in large numbers to do hard, physical jobs shunned by most locals, is preventing it from optimising the benefits of labour migration and protecting the rights of migrant and Thai workers. Those who benefit most in the absence of any genuine attempt to regulate the inflow of migrants from Burma, Cambodia and Laos are unscrupulous Thai employers bent on exploiting labour to maximise profits. Successive governments, including the outgoing Surayud government, have been complicit in the systematic exploitation of migrants, for failure to secure borders, and lax enforcement of laws relating to immigrants and employers who hire them.

According to the UN's International Labour Organisation (ILO), there are approximately 1.8 million migrant workers, who are an integral part of and represent some 5 per cent of Thailand's total labour force of 36 million. Of these, about 700,000 are employed in the agricultural sector, another 700,000 in industry and some 360,000 in services. The average unskilled migrant earns between 50 and 80 per cent of the average unskilled Thai, depending on the sector and labour market conditions.

In the report, "Thailand: Economic Contribution of Migrant Workers", launched yesterday by the ILO to mark International Migrants Day, on December 18 every year, the UN agency lists several positive economic and social benefits that Thailand has gained from the mostly unskilled labour provided by migrant workers. The report, by Prof Philip Martin of the University of California at Davis, asserts that if one assumes migrants are as productive as Thai workers in each sector, their total contribution to output should be in the order of Bt370 billion, or about 6.2 per cent of Thailand's GDP. Based on average earnings of just Bt38,000 per year, the 1.8 million migrants collectively earn a total of Bt67 billion a year, the report says. If they spent half their earnings in Thailand, the impact would be to raise Thai GDP by about Bt67 billion a year because of multiplier effects.

Most Thais are unaware of the positive contributions that migrant workers make for Thailand. It is as if our political leaders, captains of industry and ordinary citizens - who benefit directly or indirectly from migrant labour - have conspired to suppress such information. Which explains why there is virtually no public outrage over the systematic exploitation of labourers from neighbouring countries, who are often made to work under appalling conditions, provided with squalid, unhygienic living quarters and not given adequate healthcare. Instead of showing appreciation for the numerous contributions of migrant workers, Thailand continues to treat these people with contempt. Our politicians tend to portray migrant workers as a source of problems, blaming them for anything from crimes to spreading diseases. The mass media behaves no better than politicians, as it also tends to perpetuate prejudices against migrant workers.

The government's feeble attempt to impose controls on labour migration, purportedly to improve working conditions and welfare, appears to work against the very people it claims to help. For example, most employers make advance payment for registration fees, which entitle migrants registration to healthcare, then deduct the amounts from their already low wages. One of the problems is that many migrant workers are either unaware of their rights to healthcare or do not know where to go to seek medical help when they are ill.

The registration fees for a migrant worker for documents, work permit and health insurance amounts to about one month's pay. That's why only 26 per cent of migrant workers came forward to register in 2006, compared to 67 per cent in 2000 when the fees were much lower. Low registration rates mean the majority of migrant workers are vulnerable to exploitation and unfair treatment, and the lack of access to healthcare means more unnecessary suffering.

It seems the more Thailand has come to depend on migrant workers for its economic and social well-being, the worse the Thai people treat them. Thailand must clean up its act if the country wants to be considered a respectable member of the international community.

The Nation