Labour Minister General Sirichai Distakul gave a speech after observing the employer-employee relationship verification process at the migrant worker reporting station on the ministry’s ground floor. He said that today (9 August 2017) was the second day of the verification process which upon completion, employers will be issued with a document for migrant workers to proceed with the citizenship verification process to obtain a legal work permit. Yesterday (8 August 2017) a total of 20,000 employer-employee relationships were investigated whereby 1,000 did not pass the approval criteria. The main reason was because the migrant workers’ age was below the given criteria. In order to verify, medical examination results on bone mass would need to be presented to the Department of Employment’s officers to confirm the age and to prevent child labour and human trafficking risks. This morning’s observation of the process presented some technical obstructions which were fixed in the afternoon for smoother operations. The migrant worker interview process consumes only 5 minutes of time. The Labour Minister commended employers for efforts in legally processing undocumented migrant workers.
General Sirichai continued the topic of the CLMTV Ministerial Meeting on Labour which took place on 1-3 August 2017. He said that all member countries commended Thailand’s efforts on migrant worker management and the process to legalize workers for equal protection and welfare. In addition to this, ministers from the CMLTV member nations showed interest in Thailand’s social security provisions for migrant workers, which allows for equal benefits to Thai workers.
“I commend the cooperation provided by employers, employees and neighbouring countries in sending officers for the citizenship verification process which comes next. For Burmese nationals, there will be 9 centers in 8 provinces including Chiang Rai, Tak, Samut Prakan, Ranong, Chiang Mai, Nakhon Sawan, Songkhla and 2 centers in Samut Sakhon, and for Cambodian nationals, centers will be in Bangkok, Rayong and Songkhla. As for Laotian nationals, workers will have to apply for passports at the Laotian consulate/embassy in Thailand, then travel back to Laos and return through MOU channels,” concluded General Sirichai.
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Spokesperson and Publication Sub-Division/
Bureau of Public Relations
Chaninthorn Phettab – Photos/
Sompob Silbut – Photos/
9 August 2017
