During 16 November, 2011, Miss Pataraporn Samantarath, Minister Counsellor (Labour), together with Mr. Songsak Saicheua, Minister Counselllor (Consul) went to Sarawak in order to visit business enterprises which employed Thai workers so as to observe employment condition , and living quality, and to seek for employment opportunity for Thai labour. In this regard, Office of Labour Affairs had visited 2 Thai restaurants which employed Thai workers, namely, Lok Thian Restaurant and Pandan Thai Delight.
Regarding Lok Thian Restaurant, it operates a Chinese restaurant that has earned Thai Select Award and currently hires 10 Thai workers for chefs and assistant chefs. These workers earn incomes between 20,000-30,000 Baht and the employer has supplied food for each meal, provided accommodations and work permit license as well as paying levy without any deduction.Other than being well-treated employees, These Thai workers are also accepted and trusted by the employers and after two years of employment, they are allowed to return their homes and the travel expenses will be supported by the employer. Most of them are long-term employed and have well relationship with the employer. Besides, the visiting group found that the employer also satisfied with Thai workers as they had good cooking skills on different types of food such as Thai, Chinese, and Japanese food. However, they have certain weaknesses; namely, drinking and gambling which caused them to have insufficient money saving and some of them are addicted to liquor causing them to be unhealthy, therefore, the employer has to assist them by collecting money for them every month. After the visit, the visiting group had provided recommendations toward money management, saving plan, health care, and smoking and drinking cessation. Moreover, these employees were provided magazines, Thai labour handbook, and Thai club journal.
Other than Lok Thian Restaurant, Pandan Thai Delight is one of famous restaurants and also earns Thai Select Award. It has employed 7 Thai workers as chefs and everyone has work permit. In addition, they were recommended to work here by ex-employees and the employer has supported travel expenses, accomodation, and food for each meal by cooking at the restaurant.
Office of Labour Affairs in Malaysia had also observed employment condition behide the restaurant and found that there was an additional part to an existing builing aimed to be a cooking zone for simple food preparation but there was rather hot. Moreover, all Thai workers ran their work here and the nature of work was rather busy in particular at meal times and there were a large group of customers. Therefore, they were rather exhausted during office hours, however, they were satisfied with their jobs and had sufficient incomes.
