Burmese migrants in dire straits post meltdown Mon 08 Dec 2008, Shyamal Sarkar
At the best of times Burmese migrant workers in Thailand and elsewhere are paid poor wages, made to stay long hours at the work site and meted out ill treatment in the hands of employers to name only a few of the indignities they face. Now the recent global financial meltdown has served a body blow to these people struggling to eke out a livelihood beyond the shores of their own country where jobs are scarce and human rights unheard of in the Burmese military junta's lexicon.
The consequences of the global financial crisis on the lives of Burmese migrant workers in Thailand have been severe with the spectre of a huge scarcity of employment looming large in the coming year. That the situation is grim and likely to turn worse is evident even now with about half the factories in Mae Sot on the Thai-Burma border having ceased work or laid off workers suffering as they do from a lack of new orders.
Dwindling job orders by the industrial units have forced the employers to resort to lay offs. Others have had their employment temporarily suspended and are subsisting on half or less the salary they got. Those laid off have perforce headed home, Mr. Chaiyuth Seneetantikul, Chairman of the Tak District Thai Industrial Federation was quoted as telling the Burmese media in exile recently.
His prediction seems to be ominous with industrial production in Tak district likely to fall 30 percent next year. There is apprehension of closure of firms in the gem industry. Units into electrical appliances are also in trouble.
The situation seems bleak and observers of the financial turmoil and the downslide, hitting many sectors like a bolt from the blue, see mass lay offs affecting 10 percent of the labour force and from among Burmese migrant workers it is likely to run into thousands.
The severity of the problem that looms in the horizon for migrant workers from Burma can be gauged from the statistics gleaned from the Thai-based Migrant Action Programme. Tak district's Mae Sot has over 200 factories that has in its fold garment and knitting industries among others. These have Burmese migrants accounting for about 200,000 workers. Thai labour laws, however, provide some relief in terms of compensation should workers, whether Thai or Burmese, lose their job.
The situation in no different in Singapore where companies have been slashing jobs since the end of October even as the financial meltdown takes its toll. The ostensible reason being offered for retrenching foreign workers, including Burmese migrants is lack of performance and lame excuses like lack of proficiency in language which all these years had never been a hindrance. But that seems to be a lot of hog wash.
In Singapore, it is not just Burmese workers who have got the axe but those from China, India, Philippines and Bangladesh. Like elsewhere, the global economic slowdown has affected Singapore's economy and as a consequence the domestic companies. The brunt falls on the weaker section of society low on education and experience. Wage cuts are being resorted to. Burmese workers working in Singapore account for about 50,000 to 60,000, media reports say.
Yet the irony is that the exodus of the Burmese workforce to neighbouring regional countries is to increase in the coming years, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Reports in the Burmese media said according to the survey of the Department of Employment, Ministry of Labour, Thailand needs about 1.3 migrant workers from Burma, Laos and Cambodia to meet the demand of the labour force. Therefore the Thai government will start a new round of registration for migrant workers which will allow non-registered or undocumented migrants to register. This along with the nationality verification process is part of the MOU between Thailand and Burma.
Migration from Burma wallowing in abysmal depths of economic deterioration is not a new phenomenon. Exodus of the Burmese workforce has been continuous and is on the increase with all seeking greener pastures to eke out a livelihood. And for obvious reasons Thailand remains the main destination for those seeking jobs away from a barren homeland in terms of employment. Most Burmese migrants stay illegally. So much so that of the estimated two million Burmese in Thailand, only 500,000 have valid work permits as of mid-2008.
