CPF to cut 1,200 Myanmar workers

CPF to cut 1,200 Myanmar workers

The SET-listed Charoen Pokphand Foods Plc (CPF) will stop hiring 1,196 Myanmar workers subcontracted to its shrimp-processing factory in Samut Sakhon's Muang district.

The move will become effective on April 10 and the company will pay 50 million baht in compensation, according to Panich Chitchang, director-general of the Labour Protection and Welfare Department.

He said the company had encountered shortages of raw materials due to a shrimp disease known as early mortality syndrome (EMS) since early 2013.

It tried to improve operations by reducing hiring from six to five days a week. The Myanmar workers, supplied by a subcontractor, are hired to peel shrimp shell. 

However, the situation has yet to improve so the company has suspended its operations temporarily for 30 days from Feb 26 to Apr 10 by paying 75% of wages to the workers, in line with Section 75 of the Labour Protection Act.

Mr Panich said the company had finally decided to let Myanmar workers go in order to shift its operations to other fields of business.

"The company has set the benchmark by showing responsibility and paying compensation on behalf of the subcontractor which could not afford to do so," he added.

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