Estimates vary widely, but along the Thai-Myanmar border, NGOs say that as many as 500,000 people – made up largely of families – have settled in, safely tucked away from Myanmar’s four-year civil war. But they are in dire need of humanitarian aid and work.
According to Naing Aung Aung of the Arakan Workers Association (AWO), they live along a 300-kilometer stretch of the border from Phop Phra to Mae Sot and north to Mae Lama. Some 300,000 have crossed the Moei River into Thailand since the war erupted, adding to an existing Myanmar diaspora.
He says tens of thousands of workers have little choice but to accept below minimum wages in a hundred-odd factories that produce garments, shoes, and leather goods for big international brands who then label and on-sell their products to the rest of the world.
“Workers don’t receive a legal wage,” he said. “Their complaints are ignored by Thai officials and the government knows all about the violations by employers, but they refuse to act. One problem is, if you’re not from here, you cannot get a proper job,” Aung Aung said.
Trade union sources say goods produced around Mae Sot for household brand names include Polo Ralph Lauren, Wrangler, Lee, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, and Hush Puppies. Kitchen aprons are made for Starbucks, ice skates for Bauer, and fashion products for Tesco.
The minimum wage is pegged at 354 baht ($10.82) a day in the Mae Sot area, but according to the AWO and Dave Welsh of the Solidarity Center, most workers receive just 200-250 baht to 300 baht a day, if they have the correct visas and work permits.
People without the right paperwork are paid as low as 125 to 150 baht a day. Most complain that to make ends meet, they must work seven days a week, take on overtime in the evenings, risk penalties for missed quotas, and accept that there are no public holidays.
“Conditions are deplorable overall. But workers are vulnerable and in many cases they feel compelled to work under any conditions,” Welsh, who recently recorded a podcast with The Diplomat, said about the plight of workers in the Mae Sot area.
The biggest issue confronting unions is that their complaints are not taken seriously by Thai authorities, and successful prosecutions are time-consuming and rare. That suits factory owners, who are constantly lowering costs in order to win contracts from the big brands.
“Clearly, the allure is too great given the conditions there, which are ideal for major brands and garment companies; mainly an absence of the rule of law,” Welsh said.
But that could change, with bilateral negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the European Union and Thailand due to resume later this month, when Brussels and Bangkok will be urged to incorporate rights for workers within an FTA framework.
Welsh said trade unions and civil society groups want the Thai government to ratify key core conventions by the International Labour Organization, reform the Labor Relations Act, and create a built-in mechanism enabling workers to hold companies producing for the EU market accountable.
“What’s missing in the international labor law sphere is the ability to hold multinationals accountable for what’s happening in the supply chain,” he said.
Negotiations for an EU-Thai FTA were relaunched in early 2023 after a long hiatus, amid hopes of a conclusion by 2025. Issues to be addressed include market access, intellectual property, and digital trade, with a focus on sustainability.
There is also a sense of urgency given the global uncertainty around tariffs initiated by U.S. President Donald Trump and the state of the Thai economy. In its June report, the World Bank downgraded its growth forecast for Thailand to just 1.8 percent, from 2.9 percent.
Other issues to be addressed include freedom of association abuses and a refusal by producers to collectively bargain, but an FTA will provide the ability to monitor labor conditions and supply chains alongside the conduct of European companies invested in Thailand.
“Given how crucial this is deemed on the Thai government side, I think the European Union can and should ask for these requirements,” Welsh said. “They can be prerequisites to finalizing a free trade agreement.”
