Thailand sets up one-stop service system for migrant workers

BANGKOK, June 28 (TNA) - Thailand's army-led National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) has established a one-stop service system in Bangkok's neighbouring Samut Sakhon Province to facilitate migrant workers and local employers and to get rid of corruption. Thai Army and NCPO Chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha told the public during his weekly address, broadcast nationwide on Friday night, that the one-stop service office in Samut Sakhon will start its operation next Monday to help migrant workers, especially Cambodians who have just returned to Thailand, to work legally in the province. General Prayuth said that a similar one-stop service system will be later set up in Thailand's coastal provinces and they will start operations on July 7, 2014, while more similar offices will be established in other provinces with their operations to start from July 15, 2014. More than 100,000 migrant workers, mostly Cambodian and Vietnamese nationals, had left Thailand for their home countries over the past few weeks on rumours that NCPO authorities would take legal action against those who worked in Thailand. The Thai junta has denied and announced that it is trying to regulate the country's immigration system, in which migrant workers must register themselves so that they can stay, work and enjoy similar benefits received by Thai workers. According to the NCPO chief, four centres have also been set up, in which the Interior Ministry cooperates with the Labour Ministry and the Immigration Division in issuing temporary licences enabling would-be employers to formally register migrant workers in Thai provinces where the offices are located within 60 days. The four centres, located in four Thai provinces, have operated since June 26, 2014. Meanwhile, concerned Thai authorities have cooperated with their Cambodian counterparts in setting up centres in both countries, paving the way for Cambodian migrant workers to register themselves which could reduce their expenses and allow them to meet their would-be employers and could eventually eliminate mafia gangs from exploiting the migrant workers. (TNA)