News roundup (Nov - Dec 2013)

Round-up of news on Myanmar workers from November - December 2013.

Fraud, corruption, extortion

• "Scam agents leave foreign workers in the lurch", New Straits Times, 11 Nov  2013

Registration, passports, work permits

• "Migrants Left in Limbo After Burma Postpones Temporary Passports", The Irrawaddy, 12 Nov 2013
• "Flawed National Registration Process – Migrant Workers Open to Exploitation", Karen News, 13 Nov 2013
• "More than 30,000 Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand overstay visas", Eleven Media, 19 Nov 2013
• "Myanmar to issue red passports to migrant workers in Thailand", Eleven Media, 24 Nov 2013
• "Service centres for Myanmar migrant workers to open in border areas", Eleven Media, 4 Dec 2013
• "One-stop services for Myanmar workers in Thailand postponed", Eleven Media, 19 Dec 2013
• "Myanmar workers in Thailand to be granted special exemption", Xinhua, 22 Dec 2013

General migrant rights advocacy

• "MWRN asks authorities to protect Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand", Eleven Media, 13 Nov 2013
• "Migrant rights group slams policy failings", Myanmar Times, 18 Nov 2013 
• "Migrants Find Life In Thailand Is Hard Work", BNI, 29 Nov 2013
• "It is estimated that in some villages in Karen State, that as many as 80% of young and middle-aged men and women have left." 
• "In Thailand, a Tough Life for Burma’s Male Sex Workers", The Irrawaddy, 13 Dec 2013

Other

• "Implementation of Myawaddy industrial zone 40% complete", Eleven Media, 14 Dec 2013
• "Myanmar workers want to go home, survey finds", Bangkok Post, 18 Dec 2013
• "Most Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand would like to return home, and the country could face a shortage of over five million workers as a result by 2025, according to survey results released on Wednesday. The International Organisation of Migration (IOM) interviewed over 5,000 Myanmar workers in seven provinces that employ the largest numbers of migrants, with 80% expressing a desire to return home – and 41% of these would do so within the next five years... Myanmar nationals currently represent the largest group of migrant workers in Thailand, comprising around two-thirds of the country's 3.5 million migrant worker population. The comprehensive report concludes that Thailand, which is heavily dependent on migrant workers, could face a labour shortage of more than five million in the next 12 years."
• "Most Burmese migrants want to go home, says IOM", DVB, 19 Dec 2013
• "Myanmar to build more industrial zones," Eleven Media, 28 Dec 2013
•  "Burmese Maids Prepare for Work in Hong Kong", The Irrawaddy, 24 Dec 2013
• "Low wages cause labour disputes, says labour union", Eleven Media, 25 Dec 2013

Eleven Media: Myanmar workers in Thailand earning under minimum wage

Eleven Media reports:

Many Myanmar migrants working in Thailand are earning less than the minimum wage of BHT 300 a day (US$ 10), according to the Education and Development Foundation. "Thai government set the minimum wage at BHT 300 a day, but many Myanmar workers are getting paid below that level. Some are even ill-treated by the managers and employers," said Htoo Chit, advisor to The Education and Development Foundation. There are still hundreds of thousands of undocumented Myanmar workers in Thailand. Most of them work on rubber plantations and fishery businesses in Thailand, and they are the ones who suffer most from low wages. "I worked in Thailand for five years. I had never earned BHT 300 a day until I returned here last month. I worked on a fishing boat. I don’t have any plan to go there again," said Hla Oo, a Myanmar national from Taninthayi Region who once worked in Thailand. The neighbouring countries are seeking solutions on the issue of undocumented migrant workers in Thailand. Many were issued temporary passports last year. Some Myanmar workers who legally came in Thailand through overseas job agencies are also exposed to unfair treatment and exploitation, Htoo Chit added. "We heard some Myanmar workers who are legally working in Thailand are not paid the minimum wages. I think the workers should make sure what the salary is before they go and work in Thailand. Maybe some expenses for the workers are cut from their salaries. To sort out such problems, the two governments should cooperate,” said Ohnmar Eichaw from the United Nations Inter-Agency Project.

The Irrawaddy: Burmese Embassy Raises Migrant Worker Issues With Thailand

The Irrawaddy reports:

The Burmese ambassador to Thailand on Wednesday spoke up for migrant workers in a meeting with a senior Thai Ministry of Interior official, according to an embassy official. Labor rights activists have for a long time alleged widespread labor exploitation, extortion by Thai police and human trafficking of migrant workers, hundreds of thousands of whom cross the border from Burma in search of higher wages... The ambassador also talked about the issue of Thai police arbitrarily arresting or asking for money from documented Burmese migrants in some places of Thailand, he said.The Burmese Embassy in Bangkok has attempted to intervene on labor rights violations since the President Thein Sein took office in 2011, the attaché said... But migrant workers are reportedly still been preyed upon by unscrupulous agents or middlemen, as well as the Thai police, despite having legal documents, obtained under a 2009 scheme named the National Verification Process and Issuance of Temporary Passport... Ma Khine, a migrant worker who recently traveled from Bangkok back to Burma last month, told The Irrawaddy that even though she has all the necessary documents—a temporary passport and valid work permit—she still had problems traveling. She said Thai police at a checkpoint between Bangkok and the Mae Sot border crossing asked her to pay 100 baht (US$3.20) as “tea money”—a term understood to mean a bribe. “I did not want any trouble, so I paid when I was stopped at two out of five checkpoints along the Bangkok-Mae Sot road,” Mai Kine said.

Mizzima: Wait continues for specification of new minimum wage

Mizzima reports:

U Myo Aung, Director-General of the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Welfare, told Mizzima that it is hard to estimate when the new minimum wage for Myanmar workers will be announced.

DVB: Burmese migrant group files formal complaint against Thai police

DVB reports:

A Burmese human rights organisation has filed what is claimed to be the first ever formal complaint against Thai police for their alleged role in extorting Burmese migrant workers in Thailand.

Weekly Eeven: Eighty percent of Myanmar workers in Thailand losing labour rights

Eleven Media reports:

About 80 per cent of Myanmar workers in Thailand with MoU documentation are still losing their labour rights, a Thailand-based migrant workers’ rights activist told a workshop held at Judson Hall in Yangon. Despite a treaty between Myanmar and Thailand, Myanmar workers do not enjoy the rights of minimum wage, workplace conditions or even the types of jobs included in the agreement, said Sein Htay of the Migrant Workers’ Rights Network. “They go to work in Thailand officially but most of their salaries and jobs are not the same as stated in the agreement. Some have been sent to Thailand by an agency but without having a job arranged first. Another setback for legal workers is that contracts with their employers do not allow them to change their jobs,” he said. “The agents from Myanmar are not making contact with the employers in Thailand, and they are sending workers through brokers from Thailand. So they can’t do anything if a worker faces a problem,” he said. “We know some agencies who have repeatedly signed pledges to assist workers who report problems but then do nothing. Some don’t even care if their agent licence gets revoked—as long as they continue to make money and can get away with cheating.”

Myanmar Times: Lawyer to form party for farmers, workers

"Lawyer to form party for farmers, workers," Myanmar Times, 29 September 2013.