2 February 2012—Khuk Khak, Phang Nga Province—

The Foundation for Education and Development (FED) and The Burmese Association of Thailand (BAT), based in Bangkok, collaborated recently to free sixteen Burmese migrant workers who were arrested unjustly in a labor dispute. The workers were being held without a hearing in a Korat police station.

The eleven female and five male workers were employed until recently in a chicken processing facility run by the T.D Meat Co, Ltd., in Nakhon Ratchasima (Korat).

Company management had deducted THB1600 from each of the worker’s salaries each month in order to pay for their temporary passports. After paying for nearly a year, the worker’s passports were still not forthcoming. In protest, the workers staged a work stoppage on 18 January. In response, management then prompted fired them. When the workers informed the employment broker who had found the jobs at T.D. Meat for the workers originally, he instructed them to return to Mae Sot. While en route to the bus station, company management called Korat police to have them arrested.

Ma Ei Phyoe, one of those arrested, stated that, “Our broker and boss made an agreement to have passports for us after ten months. Then, after receiving our passports, we were to be free to go anywhere to work. But now we have no passports, the company does not allow us to apply for passports, and the company refuses to refund the money deducted from our salaries. On top of that, they told us we were going to prison for forty-five days. I give thanks to the people who are helping us.”

The Thai human rights lawyer engaged by FED/BAT on behalf of the aggrieved workers declared that, “This is grave injustice. The workers were arrested even though they have incontrovertible evidence supporting their case. We need to take action against such employers. The Burmese workers who were the victims of this outrage and arrested need to be patient to see this lawsuit through to the end. Justice will prevail in the end.”