Thailand Migrant Workers Sign Contracts They Don’t Understand, Undercutting Efforts to Stop Abuses

BANGKOK - Migrant workers from Cambodia and Myanmar are being asked to sign contracts they cannot read in order to work in Thailand’s fishing fleet, a new study has found, undercutting efforts to expunge abuses from a sector worth billions of dollars to the Southeast Asian country.

Thailand is one of the world’s largest fish and seafood producers, boasting global brands that include John West and Chicken of the Sea.   Authorities have been scrambling for several years to clean up an industry riddled with abuses, though, after grim revelations of human trafficking of Thais and migrant workers, forced work, defaults on payments, beatings and even murders on fishing boats.   All of this contributed to the U.S State Department dropping Thailand onto the worst possible ranking — Tier 3 — of its annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report in 2015, as well as threats by the European Union to suspend seafood imports for alleged illegal and overfishing.   However, Thai government efforts to register all workers with contracts, identity cards and e-payments to ensure salaries are paid rather than deferred — alongside wider prosecution of human traffickers — have helped the kingdom move into Tier 2.   Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-O-Cha has said he hopes his country will be elevated to the top tier -- compliant with U.S. standards -- after an extensive campaign to monitor the fishing sector, including spot inspections and electronic tags to track unscrupulous boat owners.   The latest TIP report is expected to be published in the coming weeks; but a survey by the ITF-Fishers’ Rights Network, shows that basic legal protections for workers are still not being met.      Of 520 fishers surveyed at Thai ports between March-June 2021, the FRN said just a tiny fraction had even had their contracts translated into their native languages.   “A shocking 89 percent of fishers had not had their contract translated or explained to them in a language they could understand,” said Jon Hartough, ITF-FRN Thailand Project Lead.     “Quite often fishers are recruited in rural areas of Myanmar and Cambodia ... it’s a verbal contract when they are told what the terms and conditions will be. But when they sign the document, it’s unclear what the conditions are, they are signing,” he added.     “This is important ... because of how this manifests in working conditions.”