Thai employers urged to register migrant workers by Aug 7

BANGKOK, August 3 (TNA) - The Thai Chamber of Commerce (TCC) has urged local employers to legally register their migrant workers with the Ministry of Labour by August 7. TCC Vice Chairman Dr. Poj Aramwattananont, who is also the chair of the TCC committee on labour and skill development, told journalists on Wednesday that the number of migrant workers in Thailand who have been legally registered by their employers over the past 10 days satisfactorily meets the earlier target, especially those in the agricultural and construction sectors. Dr. Poj revealed, however, that the number of migrant workers in other sectors who have been registered by their local employers remains low, especially those working as domestic workers and in retail and wholesale businesses, as only about 20,000 of them have been legally registered over the past 10 days, compared to grounded statistics of tens of thousands of them having worked illegally in Thailand so far. Dr. Poj urged that more public relations (PR) campaigns by all parties concerned be launched to create proper awareness among local employers to have their migrant workers in service busineses registered, as legally required. The TCC vice chair said TCC and the Board of Trade of Thailand in Bangkok have already notified provincial chambers of commerce and trade associations nationwide to inform their member businesses for the legally-required registrations of their migrant workers by the August 7 dateline set by the Thai government, or face legal action immediately thereafter. Meanwhile, Sombat Niwetrat, Deputy Director-General of the Thai Ministry of Labour's Department of Employment, told reporters that there have been nearly 400,000 migrant workers having been legally-registered by their local employers since July 24, nearly 235,000 of whom are Myanmar migrants, followed by over 107,500 Cambodian migrant and over 54,000 Lao migrants. According to the senior official, most of the legally-registered migrant workers are employed in Bangkok, as well as Samut Prakan, Pathum Thani, Rayong and Chiang Mai Provinces. Besides, there have been more than new 113,000 applications sought by local employers to hire migrant workers in their businesses. (TNA)