Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand, many of whom have been working legally in the country for decades, are facing an uncertain future in the coming weeks as their 4-year work visas expire.
The Permanent Committee for rectifying the status of Burmese workers in the Kingdom is waiting for final approval of the Ministry of Interior to hand over the sponsorship of 40,000 Burmese workers to a national recruitment company.
A sex workers’ rights group is calling on Burma’s government to reform a 60-year-old prostitution law in order to decriminalize the practice, end harassment of sex workers and provide them with better health care access.
Most of the 3 million Myanmar migrant workers living in Thailand receive lower than the minimum wage and work in unsafe environments, Myanmar's Deputy Minister for Labour told a workshop on August 1.
Dozens of Burmese garment workers have been barred from returning to work after calling on their employer to pay them 70,000 kyats (US$70) monthly, as promised.
Minister Htin Aung announced that the Ministry for Labour, Employment and Social Security will assign a minimum wage in accordance to work field and employment sectors.
The Minister was replying to the queries of Hpaan MP Nan Say Aur during a parliamentary meeting on August 5. The Minister then replied that minimum wage bill was issued on June 4 and requires the names of employers and representatives of labour organisation to form a National Committee, which will be tasked with informing the public. If there are objections, the minimum wage rate will be determined by the government through a decree.
China’s embrace of higher wages to help bolster consumer spending has sparked a jump in factories along the east-coast export corridor bringing in undocumented and lower-paid workers from Myanmar and Vietnam.
Border police found 59 illegal immigrants from Vietnam in a bus heading for the Pearl River Delta on July 29, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Aug. 6. “Thousands” of workers from Vietnam and Myanmar were discovered working illegally in Shenzhen between 2010 and 2012, the state-run China News Service reported, citing a local prosecutor.
Local workers have been facing discrimination while working at the Dawei Special Economic Zone project compared to Thai workers, local workers say.