More than 2,000 migrant workers at a major Thai seafood exporter called Monday for higher wages and better working conditions, a rare stand in a country where foreigners are banned from forming trade unions.
Leaders representing 2,243 Myanmar employees at processing factories owned by Sea Value Group submitted a petition "requesting increased welfare benefits and change of work conditions", the Migrant Worker Rights Network said in a statement.
"The main demands are for increased bonus, increased night shift allowance, increased incentives," Andy Hall, an activist with the network, told AFP, noting the workers had previously won concessions on reducing recruitment fees. Thailand is the world's third largest seafood exporter but the industry has been dogged by allegations of rights abuses and cheap labour in its fishing fleets and many food processing factories.
The sector is mainly staffed by poor migrant workers from Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia. But their treatment has caused increased jitters among international buyers, especially in Europe and the United States where consumers are demanding better ethical sourcing of food.
According to its website, Sea Value Group's factories process more than 1,000 tonnes of tuna, sardine, mackerel and other fish a day, much of it exported to Europe and the US. A spokeswoman for Sea Value Group declined to comment on the demands.
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