Thailand has made improvements in terms of legal enforcement to tackle migrant labour issues in compliance with international standards, a seminar was told.
The view was shared by Maurizio Bussi, the director of the International Labour Organisation's (ILO) Country Office for Thailand, Cambodia and Laos, and Minister and deputy head of the European Union delegation Luisa Ragher.
They agreed that during the time they have worked with the Labour Ministry and related sectors to address the migrant labour issue, they have found steady improvements as Thailand attempts to solve the issue in line with global standards, particularly in term of law enforcement.
They said operators in the fishing and seafood processing industries have been educated and advised to comply with good labour practices (GLP), while workers have been allowed more access to their labour rights. Jason Judd, the ILO's senior technical officer, said that over the past two years, efforts have been made to push for changes.
One of the changes is that 42% of workers have begun to realise the importance of employment contracts, compared with two years ago when few of them knew about the contracts, Mr Jason said.
He said about 15-18% of migrant workers have contracts written in their languages, which shows employers also attach importance to the contracts.
He added that workers also have the right to keep copies of their work contracts.
Labour Minister Gen Sirichai Distakul said the government has stepped up efforts to tackle human trafficking in the labour sector and to end unfair exploitation of migrant workers and child labour abuse problems.
The GLP is a mechanism to bring the country's labour sector up to international standards, he said, adding the government is pushing for operators to follow the GLP guidelines to win the confidence of consumers.
There are 88 operators adopting the GLP as the government has set a target of 150 operators to take part this year, Gen Sirichai said.
He also said he will attend the ILO meeting this month to represent the government in ratifying the ILO convention No.111 concerning discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.
Chanin Chalisarapong, president of the Thai Tuna Industry Association, said migrant workers have been given a greater role in protecting their rights in their workplaces.
In several companies, migrant workers have their representation on the companies' welfare committees and have a role to present their problems to companies' executives, Mr Chanin said.
This helped to build a better understanding between workers and employers, he said.