The Labour Minister gave a special speech on “Policies to Resolve Labour Issues in Thai Fishing” at the seminar on “Reforming Fishing Vessels, Tools and Labour towards Sustainable Fishing in a Thailand 4.0.” In his speech, he said the fishing industry in Thailand was often deemed connected to human trafficking, child labour and slavery, as well as illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing. He explained this to be an issue requiring urgent action, whereby efforts have not only been aimed to improve Thailand’s ranking in the TIP report and to remove Thailand from the EU’s account of forbidden imports, but also to ensure labour standards meet international levels and that the fishing industry is driven towards a Thailand 4.0.
He said that the 114,665 current registered workers in the fishing industry, reflected a mere shortage of 1,000 workers, where many fishing vessel do not operate every day. The Department of Employment has resolved the issue through establishment of MOUs on employment with Cambodia, Myanmar and most recently Vietnam. The Labour Minister ended his speech in saying that the preparation for a workforce towards a Thailand 4.0 had 2 factors including people and technology. In terms of people, he said that the ministry had already launched efforts which would be evident in 2018 – 2020, whereas for technology, he said businesses would need to integrate better technology for efficient fishing.
The Ministry of Labour will continue fulfilling its duty on recruitment of legal workers and provision of standardized care to create confidence amongst workers. This includes the ratification for ILO Convention 188 concerning work in fishing, ILO Convention 29 on slavery, ILO Convention 111 on discrimination in employment and occupation and the foreign worker management strategy (2017 – 2023) and the drafting of an emergency decree on foreign worker management which will be presented to the Cabinet tomorrow (7 March 2017).
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Spokesperson and Publication Sub-Division/
Bureau of Public Relations /
Chaninthorn Phettab – News/
ompob Silbut – Photos/
6 March 2017
