On 5 Aug 2011, the Labour officials at the Thai Royal Embassy in Tel-Aviv paid a visit to Thai workers at Moshav Saktaria, Rehovot city, who work in the business of providing and installing agricultural rubber tubes.
The business hires 9 foreign workers, among these 6 are Thais and 3 are Vietnamese. The workers receive an average income of 5,000 Shekel per month and remit the money back to Thailand at around 4,000 Shekel per month. The employer prepares lunch for them without deduction from their wage and also provides detergent and even sticky rice for them. Working hours are 06.00 AM – 04.00 PM. Workers are divided into teams of 2-3 and each team will be dispatched to each plantation. Rubber tubes can be used for approximately 20-30 years, however for vegetable plantation new rubber tubes must be replaced every year.
From the review of the workers’ living conditions, it is found that the workers have a good standard of living. The employer provides a room for each worker. Each room is equipped with an air conditioner. There are 2 washing machines and 3 refrigerators. In their spare times, the workers relax by taking naps, watching movies, listening to music. The officials give them sport equipments for takraw, badminton, and football, and also a Thai national flag, in order to encourage the workers to use their spare time usefully and also to help create unity among them.
