Migrant workers end strike, achieve goals

Wednesday, 15 September 2010 02:49 Mizzima News

(Mizzima) – Nearly one-thousand Burmese migrant workers on strike for more than a week have reached terms with management providing for their immediate return to the labor force.

Workers at the Dechapanich factory in Khon Kaen, manufacturers of fish nets, achieved their three demands early in the evening on Tuesday.

The factory has agreed to remunerate the migrant employees at the same rate as Thai labor for both normal and overtime hours, providing the work is deemed to meet the same standards. If the work is found to be unsatisfactory, the workers are liable to be fired.

Workers also won the right to hold their own documents; an issue that came to the fore when it was found the employer had doctored some of the migrant workers’ papers in their possession. However, this also means that the workers will be liable for any loss of the said documents.

Finally, those on strike over the course of the last eight days, 948 workers in total, will not face any repercussions for their action.

Yet, despite the gains for the protesters, victory did not come without a price.

According to the Thai-based Migrant Assistance Programme (MAP) Foundation, the agreement is only valid till the expiration of employment contracts for existing workers, a mere three months in most instances.

Additionally, workers are leery of an upcoming visit to the factor by a representative from the Burmese embassy in Bangkok.

Nonetheless, the victory for migrant labor is seen by activists, including MAP, as a small step in ensuring that Thailand lives up to its obligations regarding migrant labor as stipulated in the 2005 observations of the Human Rights Committee on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.