UnionAid is planning a study tour to Mae Sot on the Thai-Burma border early next year.

As well as visiting our new Occupational Skills Training Centre the study tour will be a unique opportunity to talk to Burmese people on the border about their hopes and aspirations for a democratic Burma, to learn about international aid and development and the work of the FTUB and other groups fighting for a democratic Burma.

We will visit the schools run by the FTUB, the Prisoners Aid Programme and other NGOs working on the border. There will be plenty of time to talk to men and women unionists about their work, and the history of the struggle for independence and freedom.

The study tour is designed for people with a genuine interest in international aid and development, and the Burmese situation. We are looking for people who are active in their workplaces, who can bring enthusiasm to the study tour, and use the experience as an opportunity to learn, share and educate when they return home. Solidarity members will get priority.

Expressions of interest welcome. Please email: rossw@nzctu.org.nz

Ross Wilson talking to Chris Laidlaw on Radio NZ’s Sunday Morning Ideas show, 24 October 2010 (Labour Day).

The UnionAID project in Mae Sot is planning to establish an occupational training centre for Burmese migrant workers over the next year, with the first workshop/classroom being built over the next few months.

Our local project leader, Min Lwin, has recently reported that there is an urgent need for skills training as young Burmese women continue to stream across the border into this Thai border town. He is concerned that, unless these young women get the skills for employment in local factories, their desperate situation can lead them into prostitution or being trafficked to other Asian cities.

Human Rights Watch in a recent report highlighted how vulnerable undocumented migrant workers are to deception by labour brokers who forcibly deliver them to exploitative factories, commercial sex establishments, fishing and domestic service.

But the training centre provides these young women with alternatives. Industrial sewing and knitting machines have already been purchased and a larger phase 2 development will enable the centre to provide skills training to 350 trainees per year.

Phase 2 is dependent upon a grant from the new NZ Aid Sustainable Development Fund.

It may seem strange, but young Burmese migrant workers on the Thai-Burma border often don’t know the names of the Thai factories where they work. The failure to have signs and names on their factories is often a deliberate ploy by the owners of small factories in Mae Sot. These employers are not always operating with permission from the authorities, and it suits them to create this confusion.

The UnionAID project in Mae Sot is working to lift this veil.

Factory invisibility makes it difficult for unions to identify and organise workers, and ensure labour laws are met. In addition, when there is pressure for better wages and conditions, or a downturn in product demand, it is easy to close down the factories. Owners then avoid their legal obligations to workers such as providing severance pay, or overtime payments. And then what happens is that, sooner or later, the factory reopens with a new name and often a new location.

Your contributions to UnionAID help the Federation of Trade Unions Burma (FTUB) in Mae Sot educate and organise these migrants to improve their working conditions and provide some security. The union is also establishing a database of every factory so that they can not only inform workers of their rights, but can use this information to seek legal redress for workers who are laid off when factories close.

Nearly 1000 New Zealanders now have a better understanding of the situation in Burma after attending the fund-raising screenings of Breaking the Silence in Wellington, Auckland, Dunedin and Nelson. Thanks to the enthusiasm of the Multi-Cultural Centre who sold tickets for us in Nelson, we had a packed house there, and had to turn people away. Over $12,000 has been raised for the two UnionAID projects.

Although a legal Burmese migrant worker in Thailand is covered by all aspects of Thai labour laws, in practice, they are rarely enforced.  Factory work normally starts at 8am and finishes at 9pm, seldom with overtime pay.  Most migrants work 7 days a week with 1 day off a month if they are lucky.  Sometimes factories run all night if there are orders to fill.

The legal daily minimum rate of pay is 137 Baht ($NZ6), but this is rarely met.  A 2004 investigation found that only one factory out of 200 in Mae Sot paid the legal minimum wage to Burmese employees and deductions from pay are often made for food and lodging (if provided), safety gear, and even any mistakes made in work. Many migrants have loan repayments for registration and migrant worker cards. For those who have to send money back to families in Burma there is often little or nothing left in their paypacket.

Although education on labour rights is an important part of the project work, a very strategic approach to implementing those rights has to be taken. A key part of the UnionAID project strategy is to work closely with the local legal aid office and the Thai Labour officials to enforce labour standards against bad employers.

The oppression of people in Burma, as well as economic hardship, has caused a major migration of people to surrounding countries, particularly along the Thai border. It is estimated that there are more than 2 million Burmese refugees and migrant workers in Thailand.

Migrant workers are effectively bonded to their employers and at risk of rights violations from government authorities. In many cases police, military, immigration officers, and other government officials, threaten, physically harm and extort migrant workers with impunity. They are also especially vulnerable to abusive employers and common crime.

A 2007 ILO report recommended  training for “worker-leaders”, focusing on rights under Thai labour law and under ILO conventions. That is exactly what the UnionAID project has been doing.

Further information:

Human Rights Watch. 2010. From the tiger to the crocodile: Abuse of migrant workers in Thailand. New York: Human Rights Watch.

Robinson, P. 2006. The Mekong challenge: Working day and night: The plight of migrant child workers in Mae Sot, Thailand. Bangkok: International Labour Organisation.

Late last year I took part in a participatory evaluation of our UnionAID projects in South India and on the Thai-Burma border.

I spent a week with each project and, after meetings and visits with many participating workers, it’s great to be able to assure donors that your contributions are bringing huge benefits to these very vulnerable workers.

In Tamil Nadu the Dalit and tribal workers spoke movingly, and with great pride, about the benefits they have been able to achieve through their union which now has more than 30,000 members, and their gratitude to New Zealand workers for your solidarity.

For these workers and their families, gaining respect as well as monetary gains has been a life-changing experience.

On the Thai-Burma border, in the very difficult conditions for migrant workers in cheap labour sweatshops, the project is bringing knowledge of labour rights and the collective strength to exercise them. Most of these workers are young women and the project is also providing leadership and vocational skills training.

The whole experience made me very proud of what UnionAID has already helped these workers to achieve. And of course our donors should share that pride because we can’t do it without your financial support.

So thanks again for making your commitment. Your money is already making a huge difference to many thousands of some of the most vulnerable workers in the world.

Ross Wilson
Executive Chair
UnionAID

A new Canadian documentary directed by Pierre Mignault and filmed secretly inside Burma showcases the country’s little known networks of resistance movements. It sheds light on the enormous risks taken by ordinary Burmese, and their long struggle to remove the country’s brutal military dictatorship.

Showing in Auckland on Monday 3 May, 8.30pm at Academy Cinema, 44 Lorne St

and in Wellington on Monday 26 April, 8pm at Paramount Cinema, Courtenay Pl.

Tickets are $25. Join us for free drinks at a social hour before the screening

contact unionaid@nzctu.org.nz for tickets.

All proceeds to UnionAID

Breaking the Silence: Burma's Resistance