Regional Migrant Workers in Thailand: Precarity and Resistance

Sammanfattning: In recent decades, Thailand's economy has grown significantly and in one generation the country has gone from being classified as a low-income country to an upper-middle-income country. Combined with an ageing population, this has created labour shortages particularly in sectors with many low-skilled jobs, such as fishing, agriculture and manufacturing. The need for migrant workers continues to increase. Approximately 10% of Thailand's total workforce consists of regional migrant workers from neighbouring countries. Thai labour law discriminates against migrant workers as only Thai nationals are allowed to form or lead a trade union. In addition, migrant workers have limited access to social security and are at an elevated risk of labour law violations and social and cultural marginalisation. A majority of these migrant workers come from the conflict-ridden and military-ruled neighbouring country of Myanmar, with very difficult living conditions. In light of this, this article aims to examine the legal situation and regulation of migrant workers in Thailand and its practical consequences. Enforced debt burdens and property mortgages are often the starting point of migrant workers' journey to work in Thailand. Although legal migrant workers enjoy broadly the same labour law conditions as domestic workers, the legal framework and its implementation are inadequate and arbitrary, with few opportunities to enforce liability for labour law violations. The explanatory models Dual Labor Market Theory developed by labour market researcher M.J Piore and the Rights-Based approach to labour migration developed by the ILO are used to analyse the results from the study. The models suggest that the vulnerable position of migrant workers is primarily attributable to the legal barriers imposed on them. The legal framework allows the migrant to bear recruitment fees, creating a cycle of debt that strongly affects labour market mobility. This, in combination with the limited union rights and the permanently uncertain and constantly changing regulatory framework, contributes to the vulnerable position of migrant workers in society.