The issue involved “complexities”, Governor Sophon noted.
A raid in Tambon Thepkrasattri last month saw 30 Chinese men arrested for working illegally in the country, but prompted police to begin an investigation into whether the 30 Chinese nationals were victims of human trafficking.
A subsequent raid in the Layan area of Cherng Talay on Dec 27 saw 28 Chinese nationals, including one woman, arrested for working illegally at the site of a major hotel under construction.
In that raid, the Chinese nationals arrested refused to explain how they came to be working at the site in Phuket.
The meeting yesterday at Phuket Provincial Hall was held to explain to Move Forward MP for Bangkok Sasinan Thamnithinan and Kanwee Suebsaeng, Vice Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Law, Justice, and Human Rights, what Phuket officials are doing to address migrant worker issues.
Also present for the meeting yesterday were fellow members of the House of Representatives Committee on Law, Justice, and Human Rights.
During the meeting, several government agencies in Phuket Province presented what an official report of the meeting called “crucial information”, shedding light on the “challenges related to migrant workers and offering potential solutions”.
The Phuket Provincial Labour Office reported a total of 61,485 foreign workers from four nationalities (Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam) in Phuket as of December 2023* ‒ marking a significant increase of 16.13% compared with the previous year.
Myanmar nationals constituted the majority, comprising 97.84% of Phuket’s migrant labour workforce, the Labour Office confirmed.
The industry in Phuket using the most migrant workers was construction, hosting 27,645 workers, followed by “various services” (11,657) and food and beverage sales (8,553).
The Phuket Provincial Labor Protection and Welfare Office raised multiple issues, including workers not knowing their real employers, illegal entry of migrant workers, communication barriers due to language differences, lack of understanding of Thai labour laws, and workers hesitating to return to their home countries, said the report.
Proposed solutions such as enhanced inspections, strict enforcement of laws for workers entering Thailand, provision of interpreters, pre-employment training for understanding Thai labour laws, and promoting workers’ rights awareness were suggested.
Meanwhile, the Phuket Provincial Public Health Office (PPHO) presented its health management plan for foreign workers in 2024.
The PPHO identified challenges including the absence of interpreters, high costs of hiring personnel, issues with health insurance claims and insufficient budgets for equipment necessary to provide services to the large volume of migrant workers on the island.
The PPHO proposed promoting medical care for foreign workers, integrating social security systems, establishing a health insurance fund for unregistered workers and ensuring health examinations are conducted only in government hospitals.
According to the report of the meeting by Phuket officials, the House of Representatives Committee on Law, Justice, and Human Rights “encouraged Phuket Province to adopt an integrated approach, incorporating legal frameworks for migrant workers and ensuring access to public health services as mandated by law”.
No other directives were reported by Phuket officials.
Since the raids last month, Phuket officials have not confirmed any human trafficking charges against the employes caught using illegal migrant labour for construction projects in Phuket.
“This collaborative effort seeks to address the multifaceted challenges faced by migrant workers and foster a system that promotes their rights, well-being, and legal compliance,” the official report of the meeting concluded.
* Phichit Singthongkam of the Phuket Provincial Employment Office later confirmed that 10,631 employers/establishments in Phuket employ foreign workers, and that of the 61,485 migrant workers known to be on the island, 60,163 are from Myanmar (97.84%), 912 are of from Laos, 266 are from Cambodia and 144 are from Vietnam.