Firms back new alien labour rules

Business operators at the border back moves to regulate alien workers who come to work there on a daily basis.

Chaiwat Withitthammawong, president of the Federation of Thai Industries of Tak, the border province opposite Myanmar, said the federation had written to state agencies backing the policy, which will enable workers from neighbouring countries to enter and leave Thailand day by day for work.

Private firms had told him they want the workers to legally come and go on the same day, rather than labourers who need to seek a work permit through a registration process.

Under that process, migrant workers need to undergo a national verification procedure before receiving a passport, he said. The documents then allow them to travel anywhere in the country.

After receiving the passport, many workers quit and move to work in big cities, according to Mr Chaiwat.

The operators running businesses along the border suffer labour shortages as a result.

Mr Chaiwat said the problem of illegal migrant workers has been unsolvable over the past decade because only one system governs alien labourers working in both border areas and inland.

Different systems are needed to regulate migrant workers depending on where they are, he said.

Speaking about Lao workers who cross the border to work in Mukdahan, a staff member of a private development organisation said the labourers tend to stay in the province only for short periods.

When workers obtain a passport, they travel to big cities, such as Khon Kaen, Bangkok and its surrounding provinces, where they can earn more from better jobs.

The issue raised the ire of local employers, who generally have to pay a registration fee for their workers in advance.

Many employers are still struggling with a labour shortage and some cannot reclaim the money paid for registration, he said.

By: Penchan Charoensuthipan, Bangkok Post